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Google's use of Java code was fair use, SCOTUS rules in Oracle copyright battle   Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California. Photo from Shutterstock.com. Google did not violate copyright law when it copied a portion of Java programming language for use in its Android platform for smartphones, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 6-2 decision. Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the majority opinion holding that Google’s use of the code was fair use. Google copied about 11,500 lines of code, out of 2.86 million lines, from the Java SE program owned by Oracle America Inc.’s predeces...

Top state court recognizes same-sex adultery as grounds for divorce   Image from Shutterstock.com. The New Hampshire Supreme Court has overturned a 2003 decision that had defined adultery as voluntary intercourse between members of the opposite sex. Ruling Thursday in a divorce case, the state supreme court defined adultery as intercourse between a married person and someone other than the married person’s spouse, regardless of sex. Intercourse can include any genital contact, not just vaginal penetration, the court said. The husband in the case, Robert Blaisdell, had claimed that he was e...

'Professional exonerators' contributed to more than 60% of last year's exonerations     Ricky Davis holds up a shirt with the logo of the Northern California Innocence Project after his release from custody at the El Dorado County Jail in Placerville, California, on Feb. 13, 2020. Davis spent about 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of second degree murder. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) Conviction integrity units and innocence organizations are contributing to an increasing number of exonerations over time, according to the National Registry of Exonerations. The two kinds of gro...

The power of silence in legal practice Your Voice By James H. Fierberg   “Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.” —Leonardo da Vinci I have spent 40 years in practice and nearly as long serving as an official and unofficial mentor for young lawyers, as well as more than a decade as an educator at many levels, including law school. All these experiences have informed me of the important skills that lawyers need to master for success, most of which are not taught in law school. These are the so-called tricks of the trade or psychological game theories that a lawyer learns alon...

In-House Counsel Tesla's board failed to appoint general counsel who could keep Elon Musk in line, unsealed suit alleges     Elon Musk at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, in 2011. Photo by Maurizio Pesce via Wikimedia Commons. Tesla’s board of directors failed to secure a general counsel who could curtail “erratic” tweeting Tesla CEO Elon Musk, according to a shareholders’ derivative lawsuit unsealed Friday. The lawsuit, originally filed March 8, says Musk repeatedly tweeted Tesla-related information that violated settlements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissio...