EDITOR'S NOTE
By Jonathan N. Osder
(2001)

Having recovered over $104 million dollars on behalf of our clients, Donahue Gallagher Woods LLP has long enjoyed an international reputation as a premier intellectual property enforcement firm.  This edition of our newsletter is devoted exclusively to interesting intellectual property issues we daily confront.

This is a fascinating time for the exponentially growing area of intellectual property law.  Although many have characterized cyberspace as the new Wild West where no laws clearly apply, courts and practitioners are finding that traditional intellectual property concepts still apply nicely to new technologies, as is evidenced in the Napster decision we review in this edition.  There, in response to Napster’s argument that new technologies require special legal consideration, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote: “[w]e are at a total loss to find any ‘special circumstances’ simply because this case requires us to apply well-established doctrines of copyright law to new technology.”

The on-line world does, of course, create new issues.  For example, this edition explores the static that obstructs traditional radio station broadcasts on the Internet, what trademark holders should consider when enforcing their rights in cyberspace, and important safe harbors for U.S. companies that collect data from customers in the European Union.  Finally, there would be no intellectual property without the “Authors and Inventors” recognized by Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, which is the genesis of intellectual property law in our country; therefore, we conclude this issue of our newsletter with an article that reminds employers of the perennial need to secure their intellectual property rights through appropriately written agreements.  

We hope you find this edition interesting and helpful. 

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