Nota Bene

Yahoo! Tech reports:

Miffed that, if you return home from travel overseas, U.S. Customs can decide to search, and even seize, all the files on your computer, your camera, and even your cell phone? So is Senator Russ Feingold, who opened Congressional hearings on the matter last week with a scathing indictment on the practice.

In Feingold’s published opening remarks *** he begins by saying that most Americans are probably not even aware that the practice is now commonplace here. In fact, it’s been going on for at least two years; a full seven percent of business travelers now report having electronic equipment seized at the border.

The New York Times has more here.

The Las Vegas Sun reports:

Without comment, the justices declined to hear the case involving a segment of the $1.5 billion fantasy sports industry in the United States, in which participants manage imaginary teams based on the real-life performances of professional players.The lawsuit involves C.B.C. Distribution and Marketing Inc., a Missouri company unable to obtain a license from a subsidiary of Major League Baseball to use players’ names in C.B.C.’s fantasy baseball games.

The Missouri company sued, saying it did not need a license to continue to sell its fantasy baseball games on its Web site.

The baseball players’ union jumped into the case on the league’s side, alleging a state law violation of the players’ publicity rights _ the ability to profit from the commercial use of a person’s name.

A federal court and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled in favor of the fantasy baseball business, saying that enforcing state law rights would violate C.B.C.’s right of free speech protected by the First Amendment.

This Week in Law is one of the more useful podcasts floating around the internet. April’s edition covers the liability and insurance issues that arise from blogging and podcasting. Suppose you are a lawyer and are sued for a blog post or podcast. Will that lawsuit be covered by insurance? What are the employer-employee ramifications for blogging? Do any insurers sell policies that cover blogging?  What do they cost?  This Week in Law’s expert panel discusses these issues and suggests some best practices for minimizing risk while blogging and podcasting. Any attorney who blogs or who advises companies that allow blogging should listen to this excellent podcast.

The Associated Press reports:

The military cannot automatically discharge people because they’re gay, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in the case of a decorated flight nurse who sued the Air Force over her dismissal.

The three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals did not strike down the military’s “dont ask, dont tell” policy. But they reinstated Maj. Margaret Witts’ lawsuit, saying the Air Force must prove that her dismissal furthered the military’s goals of troop readiness and unit cohesion.

The “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue, dont harass” policy prohibits the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members but requires discharge of those who acknowledge being gay or engaging in homosexual activity.

(more…)

Reuters reports:

American victims of bombings and rocket attacks in Israel have sued Swiss bank UBS AG for more than $500 million, accusing the bank of helping fund the militants behind the attacks through dealings with Iran.

The lawsuit seeks damages from Switzerland’s largest bank for more than 50 U.S. citizens hurt or relatives of those killed in bombings in Israel between 1997 and 2006 that it said were carried out by militant groups Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

UBS AG broke several 1996 U.S. laws that prohibit persons and companies from engaging with state sponsors of terrorism and were designed to impede Iran’s access to foreign capital, the suit said.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday in federal court in New York, cited U.S. government reports that conclude Iran has been the main sponsor of Hezbollah and Hamas since 1996, including providing tens of millions of cash annually. The U.S. government considers Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations.

“UBS knew full well that the cash dollars it was providing to a state-sponsor of terrorism such as Iran would be used to cause and facilitate terrorist attacks by Iranian-sponsored terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah and PIJ,” the lawsuit said.

Red Orbit reports

A consortium of health care advocacy groups filed a class-action lawsuit Monday against the state of California, hoping to block a historic

10 percent across-the-board cut in Medi-Cal and Denti-Cal payments scheduled to take effect July 1.

The groups - including the California Medical Association, the California Hospital Association and the California Dental Association - contend that lawmakers overstepped their constitutional authority, and that the cuts would violate the state’s obligation to ensure that Medi-Cal patients have the same access to health care as the general public.

“Medi-Cal already doesn’t cover the cost of providing care,” said Richard Frankenstein, president of the California Medical Association. “If these cuts take effect, Medi-Cal patients will be forced to seek care in already overcrowded hospital emergency rooms, which undermines access to care for all Californians.”

The U.S. Daily reports:

Dan Rather fired off a new lawsuit against his former network Tuesday, charging that CBS News labeled the anchor “too hot to handle” and prevented him from being hired by other networks after his acrimonious departure.

Rather was rebuffed in an earlier suit, when many of his claims were knocked down by a New York state judge. But the judge also allowed Rather to resubmit his claims.

In the latest filing, Rather claims that CNN, ABC, NBC and other networks met to talk about possible employment but that all eventually declined for reasons that included, according to the lawsuit, Rather’s having had “too much baggage.” The claim says he lost other business opportunities as well. He later signed with HDNet.

AP News reports:

A Los Angeles-based company known for its light deserts is shelling out some heavy cash to settle a class action filed by disgruntled customers.Pinkberry chief executive Ron Graves said Thursday that the frozen yogurt chain had settled the suit over whether its product was, technically, frozen yogurt.

Pinkberry acknowledged that it didn’t follow state guidelines requiring frozen yogurt to be made off-site, not in stores. Graves said the product is now mixed in a dairy.

As part of the settlement, Pinkberry will give $750,000 to two Southern California charities.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

For more than 30 years, the District of Columbia has had the nation’s strictest gun-control law — a ban on having handguns at home for self-defense.On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear a challenge to that law from those who say it violates the 2nd Amendment’s right to keep and bear arms.

Few would cite D.C.’s gun ban as proof that gun control leads to crime control, as Washington continues to have one of the nation’s highest rates of violent crime. Even some gun-control advocates don’t support it.

The case has drawn wide attention not because of the district’s law itself, but because the court may decide for the first time whether gun rights are truly protected by the Constitution, like the right to free speech and the right to freely practice one’s religion.

If so, it could mark the beginning of new era in which judges around the country are called upon to decide whether the many restrictions and regulations of weapons infringe the rights protected by the 2nd Amendment.

“Whenever there is an individual right [protected by the Constitution], the burden is on the government to justify a limit on that right,” said Robert A. Levy, a libertarian lawyer at the Cato Institute.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Activision Inc. has sued Gibson Guitar Corp., saying its popular video game “Guitar Hero” doesn’t infringe on a Gibson patent.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, asks the court to declare the video game doesn’t infringe on the Nashville, Tenn., musical instrument maker’s patent for a “system and method for generating and controlling a simulated musical concert experience” and that Gibson’s patent is invalid.

“Despite being aware of the Guitar Hero game for many years, Gibson has encouraged Activision to manufacture and sell devices it now alleges infringe” the patent, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges that Gibson notified Activision in January that it believed the “Guitar Hero” software and its guitar-shaped controller were covered by Gibson’s patent. Gibson asked that Activision obtain a license from the instrument maker under the patent or stop sales of the game, according to the lawsuit.