Stephen M. Kramarsky

January 25, 2021 | New York Law Journal

The court in 'Fishon' held, broadly speaking, that New York's consumer protection law cannot be contracted around—at least not by a general statement in the Terms of Service.

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

11 minute read

November 16, 2020 | New York Law Journal

Are social media platforms a place for friends to stay updated on each other's lives? A place for businesses to advertise products? A place for Presidential proclamations and up-to-the-second reporting on society's most important issues? The answer is: It depends. In this edition of his Intellectual Property column, Stephen M. Kramarsky explores how the extremely flexible character of social media has required equal flexibility in the courts' intellectual property analysis.

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

10 minute read

July 20, 2020 | New York Law Journal

In this technology column on Intellectual Property, Stephen M. Kramarsky discusses how the Second Circuit has clarified discovery limits in international arbitration.

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

8 minute read

May 18, 2020 | New York Law Journal

Recently two New York courts addressed intellectual property issues in conflict with video game realism and reached the same conclusion in two different contexts—copyright (tattoos on virtual basketball players) and trademark (trademark and trade dress issues around virtual AMC Humvees). Stephen M. Kramarsky explores the cases in this edition of his Intellectual Property column.

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

10 minute read

March 23, 2020 | New York Law Journal

Stephen M. Kramarsky addresses anonymous defamatory posts, writing that fortunately, at least in New York, there is a procedural rule, CPLR §3102, that can be used to provide early judicial intervention to pierce the veil of anonymity where a court deems it necessary and appropriate. He discusses a recent example.

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

9 minute read

January 17, 2020 | New York Law Journal

If millions of people are using a company's software, the company is happy—as long as it's getting paid. But if the company loses control of the product, it must take steps to defend its rights. And the first step in that playbook is often to go to court and seek to restrain unlawful use of the intellectual property. In his Intellectual Property column, Stephen M. Kramarsky discusses a recent New York Supreme Court case regarding exactly that situation. It is worth examining because it conducts the familiar preliminary injunction analysis in a somewhat unfamiliar way.

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

11 minute read

November 25, 2019 | New York Law Journal

In his Intellectual Property column, Stephen M. Kramarsky discusses a recent decision from the Eastern District of New York, which examines privilege issues relating to the role of an attorney in the preparation of public documents and provides good guidance as to the limits of privilege for lawyers providing that kind of advice.

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

10 minute read

September 16, 2019 | New York Law Journal

For patent venue purposes, courts must perform a heightened inquiry, determining whether the alleged infringer has a "place of business" within the district. Often, that analysis can be challenging and technical, and it is different from the normal general jurisdiction test. In his Technology Law column, Stephen M. Kramarsky discusses a recent case involving autonomous robot lockers, which offered a somewhat simplified take on the analysis that is worth a closer look.

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

11 minute read

July 22, 2019 | New York Law Journal

In his Technology Law column, Stephen M. Kramarsky discusses a recent Second Circuit opinion which addressed several questions that arose from President Trump blocking certain Twitter users from his account: To what extent are Twitter accounts “official” government accounts? What should the law make of the “personal” accounts of high government officials? Is an official's Twitter account a “public forum” to which the general public has a right to access?

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

11 minute read

May 20, 2019 | New York Law Journal

In his Intellectual Property column, Stephen M. Kramarsky discusses a recent SDNY decision involving unlawful access to electronically stored information, which can give rise to both state and federal claims for “hacking.” The employee in the case asserted those claims in both state and federal court. The doctrine of abstention provides federal courts a framework for exercising their discretion to abstain from adjudicating a matter, leaving it instead to the state court. However, in this case, SDNY declined to do so. Its opinion explains the bounds of the doctrine in this area, where the protections of state and federal law overlap.

By Stephen M. Kramarsky

10 minute read