Feed: Jeff Geiger Counters - AggScore: 50.0

The Wild Side of Lawyers: Line Spacing

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Do you remember when you were in elementary school and the teacher told you to write a 250 word essay? Or when you were supposed to write a two-page story about your summer vacation? Of course, for many of us, this was before the days of computer-assisted word counts and line spacing. As an aside [...]

Legal Conflicts of Interest

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A recent post by my colleagues, Faith Alejandro and Doug Rucker, raised the difficulty in representing clients where there may be divergent interests.  generally,  a lawyer cannot represent both sides.  This is not remarkable, and makes perfect sense.  But, of course,  legal fees are not cheap and sometimes parties can agree to a resolution and [...]

The (Slight) Democratization of Trademark Contests

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What is the purpose of trademark law?  To prevent unfair competition by (a) providing assurance that goods/services are of a certain quality/consistency, and, critically,  (b) assisting consumers in making purchasing decisions. For example, if I go to a McDonald’s restaurant in McLean or Richmond,  I am (generally) guaranteed the same type of restaurant service.  Again, [...]

FaceBook and Jurors Don’t Mix

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In the latest occurrence of  juror idiocy, a St. Petersburg television station reports that Jacob Jock (real name) sent a FaceBook friend request to a female civil defendant (characterized as both young and attractive) during the course of trial.  The judge was not amused and Jock was dimissed from the jury.  Not content with his dismissal, Jock [...]

Don’t Tread on my Internet

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Regulation of the Internet is almost always in vogue.  The Luddites are scared of the technology and the politicians want to control it.  Recent proposed legislation has attempted to address copyright holders’ concerns over piracy of their digital content.  Specifically, the PROTECT IP and the Stop Online Piracy Acts aim to enhance powers for both [...]

Girls Gone Wild: Trademark Style!

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Madonna’s latest song title prompted a good article on trademark law by one of my colleagues in North Carolina, Donna Berkelhammer.  As you will see, the owner of  the “Girls Gone Wild” franchise,  sent a cease and desist letter to Madonna as to her singing a tune by the same name.  In my humble opinion, the [...]

Taking People’s Land: A Proposed VA Amendment

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My colleague, Andrew McRoberts, posted recently on a proposed amendment to the Virginia Constitution designed purportedly to protect property rights.   Purportedly, you say?  Yes.  I am all for property rights and embrace fully the notion that no one can take my property without paying me for it.  And there’s the rub.  You are entitled to [...]

Sanctioning Lawyers

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THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS POST DESCRIBES LEGAL MATTERS HANDLED IN THE PAST BY OUR ATTORNEYS. OF COURSE, THE RESULTS WE HAVE ACHIEVED DEPEND UPON A VARIETY OF FACTORS UNIQUE TO EACH MATTER. BECAUSE EACH MATTER IS DIFFERENT, OUR PAST RESULTS CANNOT PREDICT OR GUARANTEE A SIMILAR RESULT IN THE FUTURE. My colleague, Mikhael Charnoff, [...]

Thoughts on Germany

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Having graduated from high school at Patch American High School in Stuttgart, Germany, and obtaining a minor in German at William & Mary, I have a strong affinity with all things German (and it does not hurt that my last name is Geiger).  Understandably, there is a great degree of pressure to “internationalize” your business [...]

Thoughts on PROTECT IP Act

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As previously reported, I had the opportunity last night to moderate a discussion at the William & Mary School of Law on “P.R.O.T.E.C.T. IP Act: What Is It? Will It Pass? What Would Be Its Impact?”  The seminar was sponsored by the Virginia Bar Association Intellectual Property and Information Technology Section along with a host [...]

More Fun With FaceBook

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Here, are two recently reported stories highlighting the vagaries of FaceBook and other such social media outlets. First, enter Dana Thornton. Apparently, she was not fond of her ex-boyfriend and decided to create a FaceBook page for him. She is accused of creating a fake profile of her ex-boyfriend, a Parsippany, New Jersey narcotics detective, [...]

Can a Lawyer Blog?

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From the title of the blog, I should probably amend it to ask whether a lawyer “may” blog as opposed to “can” blog.  I jest because I find that application of the rules governing lawyer advertising seem designed for fifth graders and zombies with a pulse (obligatory Halloween reference). It would be remiss if I did [...]

Upcoming Career Panel and IP CLE Presentation at W&M

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Looking forward to participating in the Virginia Bar Association’s Fall Career Panel and Intellectual Property CLE Presentation at William & Mary School of Law on November 10, 2011. For the first half, I am a speaker on a Career Panel geared to law students. In the second half, I am moderating a panel on “P.R.O.T.E.C.T. [...]

Foreign Attorneys in Virginia?

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Given the nationalization (and globalization) of various elements of our society over the past sixty years (e.g., WalMart, network television, interstate highways, Hollywood), the legal profession stands in stark contrast. While, to many, the crossing of a state border is an artificial construct, states have maintained a hold on the practice of lawyers, regulating anyone, [...]

Justice Clarence Thomas and Some Criticism

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Reading an article concerning Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, my interest was piqued in that I had lunch yesterday at a bar function with a lawyer who described his experience in meeting with him as a summer law clerk at a local firm. Many commentators express with seeming disdain that Justice Thomas is not active [...]