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Court won't hear challenge to copyright board
Court Issues |
2013/05/31 17:12
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The Supreme Court won't hear a challenge to the authority of the board that sets royalty rates for musical works.
The high court refused Tuesday to hear an appeal challenging the Copyright Royalty Board, a panel of three copyright judges appointed by the Librarian of Congress.
Intercollegiate Broadcast System Inc. said the board should be appointed instead by the president and confirmed by the Senate. They want to have overturned a decision by the board that noncommercial educational webcasters pay an annual fee of $500 per channel for a license authorizing the webcasting of unlimited amounts of music.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to hear their appeal, and the Supreme Court did as well. |
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Missouri man sentenced for murder of attorney
Court Watch |
2013/05/23 18:55
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A St. Louis man has been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering a lawyer who was beaten, stabbed and strangled in a 14-minute struggle.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports 46-year-old Cleophus King entered the plea Wednesday in the March 2008 killing of Luke Meiners, an assistant St. Louis County counselor.
King’s accomplice, Ferguson resident Ronald Johnson, received the same sentence after pleading guilty in 2010.
Prosecutors said Johnson lured Meiners — an acquaintance — to King’s home by saying he needed a ride there to laundry. In fact, prosecutors said, the two had planned in advance to rob Meiners and killed him when he resisted.
Johnson and King used Meiners’ vehicle to dump his body in Venice, then stole electronics from his University City apartment. |
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Judge OKs class-action settlement over Skechers
Law Firm News |
2013/05/23 18:54
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A federal judge approved a $40 million class-action settlement Monday between Skechers USA Inc. and consumers who bought toning shoes after ads made unfounded claims that the footwear would help people lose weight and strengthen muscles.
U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell in Louisville approved the deal, which covers more than 520,000 claims. About 1,000 people eligible for coverage by the settlement opted not to take part.
Those with approved claims will be able to get a maximum repayment for their purchase _ up to $80 per pair of Shape-Ups; $84 per pair of Resistance Runner shoes; up to $54 per pair of Podded Sole Shoes; and $40 per pair of Tone-Ups.
Russell also awarded $5 million for the attorneys in the case to split. Russell ordered that the money cannot come from the $40 million settlement fund set aside for consumers.
Two people that served as the lead plaintiffs in the case will receive payments of $2,500 each.
Russell considered multiple factors in deciding to approve the settlement and found it provides just compensation to the plaintiffs. |
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Court strikes down Arizona 20-week abortion ban
Legal Network |
2013/05/23 18:54
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A federal court in San Francisco Tuesday struck down Arizona's ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the law violates a string of U.S. Supreme Court rulings starting with Roe v. Wade that guarantees a woman's right to an abortion before a fetus is able to survive outside the womb. That's generally considered to be about 24 weeks. Normal pregnancies run about 40 weeks
Several states have enacted similar bans starting at 20 weeks. But the 9th Circuit's ruling is binding only in the nine Western states under the court's jurisdiction. Idaho is the only other state in the region covered by the 9th Circuit with a similar ban.
A trial judge had ruled that the ban could take effect. U.S. District Judge James Teilborg ruled it was constitutional, partly because of concerns about the health of women and possible pain for fetuses.
But abortion-rights groups appealed that decision, saying the 20-week ban would not give some women time to carefully decide whether to abort problem pregnancies. |
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