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Facebook: it is so many things to so many people. A source of friendship, an alibi for a crime, a way to torture your own flesh and blood. For Evesham, New Jersey police it recently also has been a way to find and maybe even punish those suspected of drunk driving. Talk about social media innovation. According to the Courier-Post, the police department’s Facebook page has included helpful items such as video surveillance clips, mug shots, police reports, photos of missing persons and announcements of policing initiatives....

Feel like the D.C. Circuit is out to lunch? They might be! With the wide variety of lunch options right around the courthouse, we wouldn’t blame them. Since there is such a dearth of opinions from the court these days, we thought we would turn our focus to something else an attorney in the area might be interested in. So if you’re in the D.C. Circuit and feeling peckish, check out these five fabulous lunch spots:...

Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall has sued his ex-sponsor, Hanesbrand, the parent company of Champion. Mendenhall’s Champion lawsuit comes after some questionable tweets about Osama bin Laden. While many Americans celebrated after Osama bin Laden was killed, Mendenhall took a different approach. He took to his Twitter account to express sympathy over the death of the al Qaeda leader, reports CBS News. A few hours after he tweeted to the world about his views about Osama bin Laden, Mendenhall was summarily axed by Champion, a company that makes athletic apparel....

Theranos played the bankruptcy card in a class-action against the company, but it was a bad play that derailed a proposed deal. In documents unsealed in Delaware Chancery Court, investors said the company threatened to file for bankruptcy protection if they didn’t accept a deal to dismiss their claims. A Theranos lawyer tried to pressure Partner Investments LP and two other funds, which invested more than $96 million in the company, to accept more equity instead....

The litigation over whether Monsanto’s flagship weed killer, Round Up, causes non-Hodgkins lymphoma heated up earlier this month. The federal district court was treated to a parade of experts expressing competing opinions on the safety of Round Up. Notably, reports from the closing day of testimony explain that Judge Chhabria expressed skepticism as to the plaintiffs’ experts, going so far as to call it “highly questionable at best and maybe junk science....

One of the Western world’s most important holidays is upon us: International Be Kind to Lawyers Day. So stop complaining about how your ex’s slimeball attorney stole all your money in the divorce and start showing us, or yourself, some love. What’s the best way to be nice to a lawyer, even if you are one? Money, of course. Beyond that, here are some other ways to show a little appreciation to the lawyers in your life, whether they’re your colleagues, friends – or that vile slimeball attorney who stole all your money:...

Remember Judge Arnold Ogden Jones II of Wayne County, North Carolina? Maybe not. As a reminder, he was the esteemed jurist who tried to obtain his wife’s text messages by offering an FBI agent “a couple cases of beer” and $100. Now-former Judge Jones was arrested, indicted on three federal charges, convicted, had the convictions overturned, subsequently pleaded guilty to paying gratuities to a public official, and has now been sentenced to two years probation, $5,000 in fines, and 100 hours of community service....

I have a friend who works in sales. This friend, who we’ll call Joe, wears a company-mandated polo shirt and slacks. Simple enough, right? You can’t screw that outfit up. Except he does, with running shoes. His New Balances look like a dog ate them, and then defecated them out. The only thing holding those shoes together is duct tape. He may be beyond saving. Another friend of mine looks like page 57 of GQ....

Something was lost in translation in Florida. The end result? Two deaf men stabbed and hospitalized. Sign language is an interpretive language, and last Saturday at a Hallandale Beach bar a gang-banger misinterpreted one sign for another: gang signs. A group of hearing-impaired men, out for a birthday celebration, were stabbed when their sign language was mistaken for gang signs by 45-year-old Barbara Lee. Among the victims is Alfred Stewart, 31, who is deaf and blind....

In People v. Williams, No. E048899, the Fourth District faced a challenge to a trial court’s denial of restitution for IRS penalties assessed against a company, arising from the embezzlement of more than $50,000 from the company by a former employee, resulting in attorney fees, fees for an internal audit by a CPA firm, as well as penalties and interest assessed by the IRS for unpaid payroll taxes. In reversing the trial court’s denial, the court held that it was an error for the trial court in refusing to order restitution for the IRS penalties as it deprived the company of its constitutional right to receive restitution directly from defendant for lossess it suffered....

In Woodward v. Dep’t of Justice, No. 09-8004, the Federal Circuit faced a challenge to BJA’s denial of death benefits to the claimant, for the death of her husband-volunteer firefighter under the Public Safety Officers’ Act. The BJA denied the claim based on a conclusion that smoke inhalation was not a substantial factor in the death, as it was uncertain whether claimant’s husband died of a heart attack he suffered shortly after the fire....

My cats act like they’re in prison when I don’t let them out of their house. They should think about one Virginia kitty who really suffered the indignity of house arrest when its owner ran from the authorities. Authorities believe that the fugitive has already left Virginia and fled the country. Martinez-Espinoza was lucky to be able to await trial in the comforts of his own home, instead of in jail....

To the list of bizarre drunken driving incidents, add New York’s drunk clown DWI. Golfer James R. Straub, who after being described as a drunk clown by residents of Batavia, New York, was arrested for a golf cart DWI on Sunday night. Police were alerted to Straub’s strange behavior when witnesses called to report a man in a “clown suit” driving down the road in a golf cart owned by the local course, reports The Batavian....

If all of the litigation surrounding smartphone and touch-screen patents between Apple, Samsung and Motorola (ahem, Google) are all starting to blend together into one giant blob in your mind, you are not alone. Last Friday, the Federal Circuit issued an opinion in the Apple v. Motorola case, which is now affecting a current trial between Apple and Samsung in federal court in California. On appeal, the Federal Circuit revived Apple’s patent claims, and one of Motorola’s patent claims....

The George Mason School of Law announced yesterday that it will be renaming itself in honor of the late Justice Scalia. The name change comes after a $30 million donation, according to The Washington Post – $20 million from an anonymous donor (the International Order of St. Hubertus, perhaps?) and $10 million from the arch-conservative Charles Koch Foundation. The school will now be known as the Antonin Scalia School of Law, giving it the regrettable acronym of ASS Law or ASSoL....

Just when we thought the email ‘Scaliagate’ scandal at Georgetown University’s Law Center was dying down, in fact, things have started to heat up. It appears that GULC’s Prof. Gary Peller has filed a Notice of Grievance against Dean Treanor for what are allegedly retaliatory and defamatory statements related to Justice Scalia’s passing last month. Controversy began a little after Justice Scalia’s death when GULC issued a press release entitled “Georgetown Law Mourns the Loss of U....

Ah, the good old days of being a summer associate. One was wined and dined at some of the best restaurants, attended shows and sporting events, and didn’t have to work late. And unless you really goofed up, you were pretty much guaranteed an offer. You can’t argue with the Boy Scouts on this one — you must always be prepared. If a senior associate or partner calls you into his/her office, you can be sure that it’s not to chit chat, time is money in the firm world....

Today, the Federal Circuit decided a patent infringement case and another involving an action against the United States for breach of fiduciary duty relating to the government’s distribution of revenue derived from an Indian reservation. In Richardson v. Stanley Works, Inc., No. 09-1354, the court faced a challenge to the district court’s finding of noninfringement relating to a design patent for a multi-function carpentry tool that combines a hammer with another tool....

With every new year comes a new startup. Then another. And another. That’s where in-house counsel has to be creative. This is about helping startups avoid IP issues in 2018 and beyond. Trademark Too often, entrepreneurs get a great business idea only to discover later that someone else already thought of it. It happens with products as well as business names. Mark Davis of Davis & Leonard said one of the top mistakes he sees is when startups fail to conduct a proper trademark search....

For a few years now, phone scammers have been conning people out of their money by claiming to be the IRS. While there are numerous variations on how the scam works, most recently the scammers have been threatening to have their victims arrested if they do not pay-up within a certain period of time. Frequently they ask for payment to be made via the hottest untraceable currency: gift cards. While various criminal enterprises perpetrating these phone scams have been busted, scammers nevertheless persist....