Bernstein

March 21, 2008 | New York Law Journal

Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, and Robert Jay Bernstein, a New York City practitioner, write that the efforts of the entertainment industry to stem the infringement of sound recordings and motion pictures on the Internet have been widely reported. The legal basis for these actions is often misunderstood, however, by commentators and sometimes even by the courts.

By Robert W. Clarida and Robert Jay Bernstein

10 minute read

March 11, 2004 | Law.com

As the case against Scott Peterson moves toward trial, odds seem stacked against defense attorney Mark Geragos, but for one significant fact. While the prosecution needs 12 jurors to win, the defense only needs one juror to say "no," and Peterson goes free. The question for jury selection: What does this holdout juror look like? Constance Bernstein identifies three types of jurors who could be the defense's best ally: the rogue, the alpha male and the technician.

By Constance Bernstein

14 minute read

September 18, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Robert J. Bernstein, founder of The Law Office of Robert J. Bernstein, and Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, discuss two recent jury verdicts in Minnesota and Massachusetts that have generated considerable heat at the intersection of copyright and the Internet. Unfortunately for the peer-to-peer file-sharing defendants, different "peers" sat on the federal district court juries that awarded the record company plaintiffs statutory damages of $1.92 million and $675,000 for willful infringement of multiple sound recording copyrights. Among the objections raised to the verdicts, both in the press and a new trial motion in the Minnesota action, is a Due Process Clause constitutional challenge to the statutory damages provision of the Copyright Act.

By Robert J. Bernstein and Robert W. Clarida

13 minute read

May 16, 2002 | New York Law Journal

I n his May 3 decision in Hoepker v. Kruger, 1 Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the Southern District of New York applied the Copyright Act to hold that noted artist Barbara Kruger did not infringe the copyright in a 1960 German photograph by plaintiff Thomas Hoepker, despite incorporating a large portion of the Hoepker work into her 1990 silkscreen, "Untitled 1990 (It`s a small world but not if you have to clean it)." Further, the court held that the model whose image was incorporated into both works, Charlotte

By David Goldberg And Robert J. Bernstein

11 minute read

January 19, 2007 | New York Law Journal

Robert J. Bernstein, an attorney, and Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, write that practitioners in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rarely encounter either mountain lions or hula dancers, but two recent decisions from the U.S. District Court for the districts of Montana and Hawaii present just such an opportunity.

By Robert J. Bernstein and Robert W. Clarida

13 minute read

March 16, 2007 | New York Law Journal

Robert J. Bernstein, a practitioner in The Law Office of Robert J. Bernstein, and Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, write that in the spring of 1967, as London blossomed with flower power, a new group called Procol Harum released their first single, "A Whiter Shade of Pale." Forty years later, the organist claimed and was awarded joint authorship of the song in Britain's High Court of Justice, a result that would likely be impossible under U.S. law.

By Robert J. Bernstein and Robert W. Clarida

11 minute read

June 21, 2010 | New York Law Journal

Robert S. Bernstein, a partner at McCarter & English, writes that generally, the only evidence an owner will receive that the owner has been named an additional insured on a contractor's policy in advance of a claim is a certificate of insurance. Unfortunately, a certificate of insurance is simply not enough to provide coverage for an owner.

By Robert S. Bernstein

13 minute read

March 05, 2009 | New York Law Journal

Robert Bernstein, a partner at Vandenberg & Feliu, and Jeffrey Gross, of counsel at the firm, analyze a recent Second Circuit decision that held that just because a company benefitted from the fraudulent scheme of its management did not mean that managers intended to benefit the company, therefore the adverse interest exception did not require knowledge of fraud to be imputed to the company.

By Robert Bernstein and Jeffrey Gross

11 minute read

July 21, 2006 | New York Law Journal

Robert J. Bernstein, a New York City practitioner, and Robert W. Clarida, a partner at Cowan, Liebowitz & Latman, write: Wouldn't it be nice to customize every Hollywood movie to your taste, to eliminate whatever you consider objectionable? Sure. And wouldn't there be a nice business opportunity in selling custom-edited films? Of course. And isn't it fair use under the Copyright Act to make and sell such "transformative" versions of hit films without the permission of the filmmakers? Not so fast.

By Robert J. Bernstein and Robert W. Clarida

13 minute read

July 26, 2004 | New Jersey Law Journal

Amendments to New Jersey's predatory lending law loosen some restrictions and may permit "non-prime" lenders to resume business in New Jersey

By Leonard A. Bernstein and Robert M. Jaworski

7 minute read