Slow Vote To China? Up To The Ninth

Rick Hasen (1:01 p.m. PT): "Judge Wilson has denied TRO request in ACLU case."

CNN (4:07 p.m. ET): "Judge refuses to delay California recall."

Howard Bashman (4:08 p.m. ET): "I was on the phone a bit earlier with a reporter for a nationwide television news outlet, and the reporter was very interested in learning all about the Ninth Circuit, the federal appellate court with jurisdiction over California."

A CNN reporter earlier today called the Ninth Circuit "unpredictable"—granted I practice primarily in California, but the Ninth Circuit has no corner on the unpredictability market. Much more coverage of this afternoon's ruling by Central District Judge Stephen Wilson is available at Google News, and Rick Hasen (above) is an election law professor at Loyola Law School here in L.A. When he says "more later" in a situation like this, it's worth coming back for.

It's Not Nice To Fool (With) Mother Nature!

Apparently, giant sequoias and SUVs don't mix. (More.)

Today's New Blawg

Dave Stratton writes the Insurance Defense Weblog [via Ernie Svenson], a blog focusing "on civil litigation defense in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area." Dave is a partner in his firm, has been webmastering its site for several years, and is checking out the whole weblog thang. More about Dave's expertise, which includes civil defense and appellate work, is available on the Jordan Coyne & Savits site.

Marty Schwimmer, Handbag King

Marty's recent posts about Jelly Kellys and Murakamis have been cracking me up, not because of the trademark issues, but because of how the bargain hunting shoppers are destined to start camping out on his virtual lawn, waiting for the garage door to open and the deals to begin! Marty's right to wonder whether luxury goods manufacturers are leaving something on the table; that Jelly Kelly looks less like a cheap substitute than it does an improvement on the original.

Distrifringement, Part II

When I shared my August 11 "Distrifringement" post with Joe Rosenbaum, one of my colleagues in New York and the head of our e-commerce practice there, he took it as the jumping off point for the lead story in his monthly newsletter, Legal Bytes. In addition to discussing the recent Lowry's Reports, Inc. v. Legg Mason, Inc. case, Joe provides further background on the development of the fair use doctrine and its application in other situations involving the copying and redistribution of copyrighted works. See the current issue (108 KB PDF) for Joe's thoughts, and if you would like to subscribe to Legal Bytes—may as well, it's free, no need to redistribute!—please email Joe (tell him I sent ya).