David Levine's blog

In the midst of the various legal battles involving free speech and what can and cannot be said in public spaces -- Howard Stern's laudable battles being foremost in mind -- you may have missed the less monumental but amusing dispute between Fox's Bill O'Reilly and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. While not a formal legal action, I'd more aptly describe it as a flame war, but an instructive one at that. Read more » about O'Reilly v. Olbermann

It disturbs me to no end to say that, when viewing these pictures (warning: they are graphic), it is difficult not to be ashamed as an American, even if these are the acts of a few. What could possibly be the justification? This is apparently being done in the name of the United States. Read more » about Shameful Behavior

An anxious (bored?) blog reader (I didn't know there were any!) has just emailed me saying: "It has been so long since you blogged. Your public demands another blog from you! Your last one was on 12/30." True; it's been a while, and I miss public missives so. Thus, rather than do "real work," I will indulge this obviously bored reader and post the following: Read more » about Now That All of the World's Problems are Solved . . .

I have been away from blogging the last few weeks primarily because my new (six months) computer's hard drive died. This followed the LCD display dying in week two. Clearly I bought a lemon. Moreover, trying to work on a law review article did not help matters blog.

So now I'm using a relative's new Apple G5. Nice. Read more » about Torture, Andrew Sullivan and Spielberg

Slate is running a contest entitled "Billable Horrors," which, as the title suggests, is a contest where lawyers are asked to submit "the meanest thing you've ever done to an opponent on the holidays." Unfortunately, I suspect that Slate is right -- many litigators have these stories of acts committed by and against them solely in an effort to ruin, or at least damage, one's holiday, vacation, etc. Read more » about The Wonderful World of Litigation

What is a blog if not an opportunity to implicitly or explicitly convince the wary that you have something valuable to say, and then say it? Or, at least, show that you want to say it, and are willing to brazenly ignore the possibility that no one cares what you think? That's my myopic conception of a good blog, as it would be much less fun and I would not be able to practice typing if it weren't. Read more » about Levine Engages in Shameless Self-Promotion (and Speaks of Himself in the Third Person, to Boot)

The Onion spoofs the RIAA's next possible lawsuit. Good stuff. Read more » about Funny Piece in "The Onion"

The New York State Bar Association's Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal has published Residential Fellow David S. Levine's practice commentary on the personal jurisdictional impact of cease-and-desist letters.

Reprinted with permission from: Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Fall/Winter 2005, Vol. 16, No. 3, published by the New York State Bar Association, One Elk Street, Albany, New York 12207. Read more » about Practice Commentary -- The Potentially Perilous Cease-and-Desist Letter

Intrepid New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is now offering further indicia of the sad state of the world of big commercial music through investigations under the classic anti-"payola" laws -- the laws that make it illegal for radio stations to accept anything of value in return for playing an artist's song, unless it is disclosed on the air. Read more » about And You Thought Payola Was Dead

I have just been made aware of an amazing collection of 1890-1930 cylinders -- the old circular vinyl tubes that predate 78 rpm discs -- that UCSB has put on-line. Dubbed the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, its goal is to "make UCSB's collection available and a wide range of music from this era accessible to researchers and the public." Read more » about University of California, Santa Barbara Digitizes Over 5,000 Cylinders

The New York Times reports the death of British author John Fowles. It may seem a bit macabre, but the Times' obituaries are often excellent articles in their own right, and this obit is no exception. It is worth reading. Read more » about Death of John Fowles

My friend Charles, of wedding blog fame, informs me of a hilarious development in the paranoid world of alleged intellectual property rights infringement. It seems that a retail website, which was selling merchandise touting the fictitious drug "Panexa" (PANEXA comes complete with hilarious and fake website, with medication warnings like "PANEXA should not be used to soak up spills or remove stains. Read more » about Fake Drug Brings Real Takedown

This weekend, I enjoyed a Sunday afternoon/evening relaxing at a wonderful fundraising concert at the Shoreline Amphitheater. The 19th Annual Bridge School Benefit Concert is an impressive musical fundraiser for the Bridge School, a school for children with "severe speech and physical impairments." Read more » about Excellent Bridge School Concert on October 30

The Center for Democracy and Technology has posted an excellent critique of the EU's proposal on Internet governance. Aside from general opposition to governmental oversight of the Internet, CDT makes many valuable points about the pitfalls of allowing multiple governments, many not aligned with the Internet's core values, to gain oversight control. An excellent commentary. Read more » about Center for Democracy and Technology Criticism of EU Internet Governance Proposal

In the realm of copyright "fair use" humor, this brilliant (and hilarious) trailer for the classic horror film "The Shining" shows how one can fairly use copyrighted materials to the humorous benefit of all (in Quicktime). Read more » about Fair Use Trailer