Shorter Trial Scheme Adopted
Writing in the English Law Society Gazette on 7 September 2018 John Hyde reports on a 2015 pilot for shorter trials, which is now going permanent in England and Wales. The scheme provides a streamlined procedure where judgments are issued within 12 months and trials are no longer than 4 days. The parties initiate the […]
Arbitration and Mediation Conference 2018
Just back from the AMINZ annual conference in Wellington where I spoke on IP and Dispute Resolution. Leading US mediator Lee Jay Berman gave a great address on how to grow your practice, including these beautiful words of wisdom:
At the NZLS Auckland Branch Dinner on 17 August to honour recent judicial appointees, with Maria Dew, Associate Judge Andrew & Mai Chen
Boeing Visit
While at the recent INTA meeting in Seattle I visited the Boeing factory. It’s the largest building by volume in the world and employs 35,000 employees at the plant per day – working in three shifts around-the-clock, to keep up with demand. Interestingly, a little-known fact, the first two planes that Boeing made were delivered […]
Monkeys Have No (Copy) Rights!
The 9th Circuit Appeals Court in the US has denied PETA’s standing to represent the famous selfie monkey Naruto. Even though Naruto is undoubtably smart and very photogenic, in rejecting the claim under the US Copyright Act, the Court found that he did not own copyright in the selfie. Naruto might be a nonhuman animal, […]
Should authorship equate to purely human effort?
Following on from my previous post on Naruto’s case, it’s interesting that in the appeals court and the District Court for the Northern District of California (Naruto v. Slater, 15-cv-04324-WHO (January 28, 2016) the courts based their reasoning largely on a lack of statutory standing. In other words, whether the case was brought by the […]
NZ Law Awards 2017
At the Zone Law table – finalists for IP Specialist Firm of the Year
Churchill’s Darkest Hour?
With the new film Darkest Hour about to hit the screens in New Zealand, the focus seems to be on Churchill’s flaws, as opposed to his many achievements. Paul Mason in the Guardian does say that Churchill was a genius in understanding how to keep working-class radicalism in check. Mason continues however to propagate the […]
Search and Surveillance Review
The Search and Surveillance Act 2012 controls how government agencies, including the Police, search people or property and how they use various surveillance technology and devices. Even though the legislation is relatively new, given the rapid developments in technology and the difficult balancing act between Police powers and human rights the Law Commission has conducted […]
No Copyright in Chorus Line
Taylor Swift is back in the news. This time for the wrong reasons – it is alleged she lifted key words from the lyrics of another song and thereby infringed copyright. The claim was dismissed. It is interesting in so far as it deals with just what is protected by copyright. See: https://www.thedailybeast.com/taylor-swifts-lyrics-are-too-lame-to-copyright-judge-rules?source=entertainment&via=rss The plaintiff, […]