Last week, Netflix announced some big changes in their structure and offerings. First, they will split into two companies: one for streaming and one for physical DVD rental. Second, Netflix subscribers will be able to share and discuss their rentals through Facebook. The Netflix blog reports: “The Netflix/Facebook integration empowers you as a Netflix member to share what you watch from…
This morning, President Barack Obama participated in a LinkedIn Town Hall Meeting at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. Since the museum is across the street from us, we were able to participate in some of the fanfare that a Presidential visit brings. But, the parking situation was a bit difficult to say the least.
Even in the age of internet marketing, the phone remains one of the most important tools for communicating with clients. Whether a new client is calling for the first time to schedule an initial appointment or an existing client is calling to check on the status of a case, how your firm responds to callers speaks volumes about the professionalism…
We were lucky enough this week to have two great groups of folks visit us at Justia — Tom Bruce and Sara Frug of Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, and Robb Shecter and Lisa Hackenberger from Weblaws.org. Tom and Sara were here for a few days to talk about current and (cool) future projects, topped off by a visit to Fry’s…
Anyone who has ever searched the uspto.gov website has surely thought that the private sector could offer a better system. Google agreed, and nearly a year ago struck a deal with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to make all of the data on patents and trademarks available not only to their own search engine, but in bulk format…
The Texas Attorney Generals’ Office issued an opinion in July that effectively halts the Texas Forensic Science Commission’s investigation of the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Mr. Willingham was executed in 2004 after he was convicted of arson and murder in a 1991 fire that killed his three children. In 2009, the Texas Forensic Science Commission reported findings from a nationally…
Buried in an announcement from the Judicial Conference today on standards and procedures for sealing civil cases comes news of an approved fee increase for PACER access: The Conference . . . authorized an increase in the Judiciary’s electronic public access fee in response to increasing costs for maintaining and enhancing the electronic public access system. The increase in the…
Step 1. California imposes a Use Tax collection duty on retailers with an affiliate or corporate nexus to California. Step 2. Amazon immediately abandons its California-based affiliates. Step 3. Amazon seeks a referendum on the New Sales and Use Tax law. Step 4. Rinse and Repeat.
Earlier this week, a panel of Ninth Circuit judges held in Diaz v. Brewer that an Arizona bill withdrawing health benefits for domestic partners of state employees violated the federal Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. The state originally offered these benefits to spouses of state employees, but in April 2008 expanded coverage to include both same-sex and different-sex domestic partners. In…
As readers of this blog, you probably already know that we at Justia are big fans of universal citation. With that said, I wanted to give you all a heads up that Courtney, in continuing to fight that good fight, has written a great piece on the topic which is now up on Cornell’s VoxPopuLII blog. In it, she generally…