Decisions We Won

Summary Judgment in Software Copyright Case Finding the Unauthorized

Distribution of Copyrighted Software and Rejecting the Distributor's First

Sale Doctrine Defense

An Order from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

granting our client's motion for summary judgment finding the defendant software reseller engaged in the unauthorized distribution of software under the Copyright Act and rejecting the reseller's first sale defense based in part on the expert testimony of our client's expert, Ray Nimmer.

Software Arbitration
The decision we won in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissing a case brought against our client, Global Trade Technologies. The case was filed to seek a stay of an arbitration of a dispute related to the development of software systems for financial institutions.

Bankruptcy Court Order Approving Complex Settlement
An Order of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland approving a settlement of complex litigation involving copyright law, bankruptcy law, and insurance law for our client, Stenograph L.L.C. Our client made a substantial recovery for copyright infringement even though the infringer went bankrupt.

Jury Verdict Upheld On Appeal In Software Copyright Infringement Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia affirmed a jury verdict of $3.2 million for copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation against a local court reporting firm. The case is a leading case in a number of treatises and law review articles for the elements of copying in a computer software copyright infringement case, including 2 Nimmer on Copyrights 8.08; M. Madison, Legal-Ware: Contract and Copyright in the Digital Age, 67 Fordham L. Rev. 1025 (1998).

Sanctions Award
The decision by U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson imposing sanctions on our opposing counsel for filing a frivolous motion for sanctions. This decision came in the case in which we won a $3.2 million jury verdict for Stenograph L.L.C. for the unlawful use of its copyrighted computer software and other trade secrets.

FCC Order Denying Competing Application for Cellular System License
A decision of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granting a petition to deny against a lottery winning application to build a new cellular system. This is one of two such petitions which our firm filed and the FCC granted.

Order Granting Summary Judgment for Copyright Infringement
The decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granting a summary judgment motion we filed for our client, Stenograph L.L.C. In a case we brought for Stenograph, L.L.C. for damages for copyright infringement and conversion.

Order Finding Contract In Violation of FCC Rules to Be Unenforceable
This is a decision of the D.C. Superior Court which we won for our client, Algreg Cellular Engineering, finding that a contract in violation of the FCC's rules is unenforceable.

NextWave Litigation
Our firm served as part of a team of law firms and consultants involved in this multibillion dollar case in which NextWave successfully challenged the FCC's attempted cancellation of NextWave's valuable nationwide group of PCS licenses. The U.S. Supreme Court's Opinion, in which NextWave prevailed, is at the above link.

FCC Order Designating A Hearing Into Charges of Misconduct By A Group Broadcaster
The Federal Communications Commission ordered a hearing into allegations of misconduct by a radio station group based upon filings we made for our client, Niles Broadcasting, Inc. The Federal Communications Commission had not ordered a hearing of this type for many years prior to issuance of this decision.

FCC Order Granting Waiver of Auction Rules
A decision of the Federal Communications Commission which we won for our client, Ramona Lee-Hayes Bell. The FCC initially dismissed Ms. Bell's application to bid in an auction for a new radio station. As the result of our efforts, the FCC reversed its original decision and allowed Ms. Bell to bid in the auction. In the decision at the link, the FCC affirms its decision to allow Ms. Bell to bid. Ms. Bell went on to win the auction.

Court of Appeals Decision Enforcing Requirement That The FCC Give Notice of Its Rule Interpretations
A U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decision overturning a Federal Communications Commission's decision to strip the owner of a national group of television stations of its license for a television station in Miami. We filed an amicus brief in support of the broadcaster on behalf of a Senator and Congressman. This decision established the principle that the FCC must give fair notice of its interpretation of its rules before it can punish a licensee for violating those rules.

Urban Broadcasting
A Federal Communications Commission's decision granting unprecedented relief to our client, Urban Broadcasting Corp. After considering our filings, the FCC ordered Silver King, the group owner of Home Shopping Network stations, to reform certain provisions of its contracts with Urban Broadcasting.

Order Granting Summary Judgment Against Contractual and Equitable Claims Based on FCC Rule Violations
The decision of D.C. Superior Court Judge Cheryl M. Long finding that a host of contractual and equitable claims failed as a matter of law because each of the claims alleged conduct that the FCC had found to be in violation of its rules. This decision upheld our client's claim of 100% ownership of a valuable cellular telephone system in Alabama subsequently acquired by Verizon Wireless.


Judgment and Permanent Injunction Won Under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998
A judgment and permanent injunction under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 we won for our client, Stenograph L.L.C., against a company and its owner who were importing and selling a device designed to circumvent technological measures that control access to Stenograph's copyrighted software. We also obtained relief based upon the defendants' violations of the Copyright Act and the Arizona Trade Secrets Act through their unauthorized purchase, sale, transfer and distribution of Stenograph's copyrighted software and software protect devices.