Welcome back to the four-day-week edition of the Top 10 in Law Blogs! A number of our bloggers were inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and wrote about how Reverend King’s fight for civil rights influences their respective fields; Vince Sliwoski of Harris Bricken wrote about the intersection of cannabis regulation and civil rights, while Chris Gantt-Sorenson of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd posted about the relevancy of Dr. King’s message in the context of the LGBTQIA community. A number of other posts feature group efforts,  including a look at how the net neutrality repeal is already influencing eSports, from a quartet of attorneys at Foley & Lardner; infringement concerns in the age of Instagram from attorneys at DLA Piper; and a post on an unusual discrimination lawsuit against Google, from a duo at Seyfarth & Shaw. As always, we wish you a safe and happy weekend!

MLK Day: Cannabis and Civil Rights – Vince Sliwoski of Canna Law Blog: For our international readers, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is an American federal holiday marking the birthday of its eponymous civil rights hero. Dr. King was the chief spokesperson for nonviolent activism in the Civil Rights Movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. Dr. King was assassinated in 1968, four years after the passage of one of the great U.S. laws of the 20th century, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His death also came two years prior to one of the 20th century’s most controversial and insidious laws, the Federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA). View Full Post

Dr. King’s Message Rings True Today in the Context of the LGBTQIA Communit– By Chris Gantt-Sorenson of SC Employers’ Blog: Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote from a jail cell in Birmingham in 1963, “[t]here are two types of laws: there are just laws and there are unjust laws….How does one determine when a law is just or unjust?…Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust….An unjust law is a code that a majority inflicts on a minority that is not binding on itself.” View Full Post

INSTA-WORTHY OR INSTA-INFRINGEMENT By Ryan C. Compton, Ashley H. Joyce, and Naomi E. Abraham of Re:Marks on Trademark and Copyright: Today’s means of communication is ever more dependent on social media.  Whether you’re an individual, a one-woman shop, a fortune-500 company, or even the President of the United States, social media is the fastest and easiest way to be heard.  But where does the line lie between legally sharing someone else’s material and intellectual property infringement? Specifically, is re-posting an article or photo, using a brand hashtag, or re-sharing a meme infringement? The answer to all three questions is maybe, depending on certain factors.  A discussion of some general guidelines to keep in mind from a U.S. perspective is below. View Full Post

Game Over for Net Neutrality: Esports in a Deregulated Internet – By Jarren Ginsburg, Ryan Lowry, Raymond Luk Jr, and Kadmiel Perez of Technology Transactions Today: Riot Games may well be right: A new era has begun in the world of esports. Recently, the FCC made the controversial decision to repeal the Net Neutrality regulations from 2015. Net Neutrality is the principle that all information and data on the internet be treated equally. In a world with Net Neutrality regulations, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are not allowed to speed up or slow down internet speeds based on the content, nor are they allowed to block any particular content, applications, or websites, for better or worse. In a world without Net Neutrality regulations, ISPs will be free to operate and administer the internet as they see fit and charge accordingly. View Full Post

Sexual Harassment and the Enforcement of Non-Disclosure Agreements – By Maxwell S. Kennerly of Litigation and Trial: Sparked by the #MeToo movement, several legislatures (including Pennsylvania, California, and New York) are considering prohibiting employers from including non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and confidentiality clauses in the settlement of sexual harassment claims. It’s not hard to see why: to take just one example, the gold-medal-winning gymnast McKayla Maroney could potentially have to pay USA Gymnastics $100,000 if she testifies at the sexual abuse sentencing hearing of her former coach because, in December 2016, she agreed to a settlement that included a non-disclosure agreement. Other examples show how these agreements enable sexual predators: Zelda Perkins, Harvey Weinstein’s assistant, was bound by a non-disclosure clause in a settlement agreement and kept her allegations secret for 19 years. View Full Post

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Google Now Accused of Bias Against Women and Men – By Matt Gagnon and Chantelle C. Egan of Employment and Law Outlook: Google now finds itself in the unfortunate position of being accused of discrimination against women in pay and promotions and – according to a new complaint filed in California Superior Court – against conservative white men. Most troubling, Plaintiffs in that case point to Google’s diversity and inclusion efforts, which are meant to combat discrimination in the workplace, as the very basis for their allegations of sex and race discrimination. View Full Post

Think Tank Says Nuclear Missiles Can be Inadvertently Launched Through Cyber-Attacks – By Linn Foster Freedman of Data Privacy + Security Insider: Just before the false alarm last weekend in Hawaii when residents were erroneously warned of an impending missile attack, think tank Chatham House issued a report stating that it had identified vulnerabilities in nuclear weapons systems located throughout the world that made them susceptible to malware and ransomware attacks that could lead to inadvertent missile launches. View Full Post

Belgium Adopts Law Reforming the Belgian Privacy Commission – By Hunton & Williams staff of Privacy & Information Security Law Blog: On January 10, 2018, the Law of 3 December 2017 creating the Data Protection Authority (the “Law”) was published in the Belgian Official Gazette (available in Frenchand Dutch). The Law was submitted in the Chamber of Representatives on August 23, 2017, and was approved by the Parliament in plenary meeting on November 16, 2017. View Full Post

Army v. NHL – Another Challenge for Vegas Golden Knights – By Tucker Chambers of Duets Blog: Another update on my series of posts following the trademark troubles of the NHL’s newest expansion team, the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Most recently, I posted about the USPTO’s decision to maintain a refusal to register the team’s marks in connection with clothing, LAS VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS and VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS (Applicant Nos. 87147236, 87147265), based on likelihood of confusion with another registered mark, GOLDEN KNIGHTS THE COLLEGE OF SAINT ROSE & Design.  Those two applications are now suspended. View Full Post

Tax Delinquents Beware: Your Passport is Now Officially at Risk – By Matthew D. Lee of Tax Controversy Sentinel: Individuals who owe more than $51,000 in back taxes are now at risk of losing their U.S. passports under a new law requiring the Internal Revenue Service to notify the State Department of taxpayers with “seriously delinquent tax debts.” This month the IRS will begin the process of certifying delinquent taxpayers to the State Department, which is required by law to deny passport applications (or renewal applications) filed by such individuals, and in some instances revoke existing passports. The IRS estimates that 270,000 individuals currently meet the criteria for certification to the State Department, and expects to certify an initial group this month, with additional certifications to follow weekly throughout 2018. View Full Post