Deliberations & Speculations

By Byron McMasters | Recently, Texas became the first state in the nation to introduce legislation authorizing the notice of a lawsuit via a social media site. If passed, the proposed legislation would authorize a judge to permit a plaintiff to serve the defendant through social media if the defendant maintains a social media page, regularly accesses the account and “could reasonably be expected to receive actual notice if the electronic communication were sent to the defendant’s account.”

By Byron McMasters | The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s rejection of a trademark application made a rare appearance in the news recently when a new company called Evil Enterprises, Inc. was denied registration for the mark “Baseballs Evil Empire” that it intended to use in connection with a new clothing line.

By Tyler T. Ray | Have you noticed one of the following “shares” on social media: Instagram pictures on Twitter, Pinterest pins on Facebook, Twitter retweets on Tumblr? This is par-for-the course nowadays. But the sharing across different social media platforms is creating serious legal debate – and case law – in regard to rights and attribution of copyrights related to social media content.

By Tyler T. Ray | Companies have gone to great lengths over the past several years to update employment handbooks and include provisions covering social media. Recently, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken a strong interest in regulating social media activity which impacts both union and non-union workers alike, perhaps as a new way to maintain its presence in the workplace as labor union membership diminishes.