MetNews.com: Court Upholds Dismiss of Suit Over Lawyer’s Advertising

A libel action by a manufacturer against an attorney who published a newspaper advertisement stating that users of that manufacturer’s product “may” have claims to relief constituted a strategic lawsuit against public participation, the Sixth District Court of Appeal has held.

BlogFest Berlin will be held Monday May 19 at 8:30 at the Berlin offices of Olswang in Potsdammer Platz. Details and Map to follow.
If you’re going to be at INTA but can’t make it to BlogFest, and you still want to meet me in person to tell me off, you can email me at marty at symbol schwimmerlegal dot com and maybe we can work something out.

Oncopyright 2008 will bring together thought leaders and change agents together to explore the evolving world of copyright. It’s a unique opportunity to share insights and exchange ideas on where copyright is headed, and how it will aggect the future of written works, music and other forms of intellectual property.

Speakers include Clay Shirky, Suzanne Vega and the perspicacious Paul Fakler.

Maybe this is a true story. Yahoo! News: “People of Lesbos Take Gay Group To Court Over Term ‘Lesbian‘”

Three islanders from Lesbos — home of the ancient poet Sappho, who praised love between women — have taken a gay rights group to court for using the word lesbian in its name.
One of the plaintiffs said Wednesday that the name of the association, Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece, “insults the identity” of the people of Lesbos, who are also known as Lesbians.
“My sister can’t say she is a Lesbian,” said Dimitris Lambrou.

Write your own punchline.

Marvel sends TechCrunch a demand letter saying ‘don’t print the demand letter.’
UPDATE: The email is up.
Background: TechCrunch used the theater’s group sales to purchase all the seats for a showing and then invited its readership to the screening. Marvel doesn’t identify a legal basis for its demand but advises that TechCrunch may not ‘exhibt, sell tickets to or invite the public’ to the screening.
Well, TechCrunch is not selling tickets, it’s not exhibiting, and, in the words of my colleague Paul Fakler, under the Copyright Act there’s no exclusive right to invite the public.
I suppose that you could posit a fact pattern where somebody gives away a branded product in a promotion in such a way as to deceive the public that he/she was endorsed by the brand owner.
But (use deep movie trailer announcer voice here) IN A WORLD where people give away iPods at trade shows all the time (and people don’t read that as endorsement), I will speculate in general, (not having reviewed all of TechCrunch’s promotions of this event,) that to be actionable as false endorsement, the language would have to be closer to ‘false on its face’ as in “Join TechCrunch and Marvel at a screening . . .” than to language that theoretically implies an endorsement (“Join TechCrunch at a screening of Iron Man.”).
Differing views glady accepted at marty at symbol schwimmerlegal dot com.
Still in all, can’t wait to see Iron Man.
2d Update: Goodness Prevails, Minus $2000 In Legal Fees.