My colleague, Andrew McRoberts, posted recently on a proposed amendment to the Virginia Constitution designed purportedly to protect property rights.   Purportedly, you say?  Yes.  I am all for property rights and embrace fully the notion that no one can take my property without paying me for it.  And there’s the rub.  You are entitled to [...]

Having graduated from high school at Patch American High School in Stuttgart, Germany, and obtaining a minor in German at William & Mary, I have a strong affinity with all things German (and it does not hurt that my last name is Geiger).  Understandably, there is a great degree of pressure to “internationalize” your business [...]

Here, are two recently reported stories highlighting the vagaries of FaceBook and other such social media outlets. First, enter Dana Thornton. Apparently, she was not fond of her ex-boyfriend and decided to create a FaceBook page for him. She is accused of creating a fake profile of her ex-boyfriend, a Parsippany, New Jersey narcotics detective, [...]

From the title of the blog, I should probably amend it to ask whether a lawyer “may” blog as opposed to “can” blog.  I jest because I find that application of the rules governing lawyer advertising seem designed for fifth graders and zombies with a pulse (obligatory Halloween reference). It would be remiss if I did [...]

Looking forward to participating in the Virginia Bar Association’s Fall Career Panel and Intellectual Property CLE Presentation at William & Mary School of Law on November 10, 2011. For the first half, I am a speaker on a Career Panel geared to law students. In the second half, I am moderating a panel on “P.R.O.T.E.C.T. [...]

Given the nationalization (and globalization) of various elements of our society over the past sixty years (e.g., WalMart, network television, interstate highways, Hollywood), the legal profession stands in stark contrast. While, to many, the crossing of a state border is an artificial construct, states have maintained a hold on the practice of lawyers, regulating anyone, [...]

Reading an article concerning Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, my interest was piqued in that I had lunch yesterday at a bar function with a lawyer who described his experience in meeting with him as a summer law clerk at a local firm. Many commentators express with seeming disdain that Justice Thomas is not active [...]

While I normally shy away from salacious topics (or I try to), The Telegraph reported that a court in France awarded $14,000 to an ex-wife because her former husband failed to engage in ample sexual relations during their 21 year marriage. Apparently, he was tired and had health problems. The court ruled that “A sexual [...]

I came across an article today in which the children (who appear to have had a privileged upbringing) were suing their mother for “bad parenting.” Slights included calling a daughter at midnight to come home, failing to take a child to a car show, requiring that a child buckle up, not sending care packages while [...]

Companies can become overly aggressive in their efforts to obtain and enforce intellectual property rights. For example, two days after special operations forces killed Osama Bin Laden, as my colleague Donna Chmura noted, Disney filed federal trademark applications for “SEAL TEAM 6” for toys, handheld computer games, Christmas stockings, Christmas tree ornaments and decorations, snow [...]