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Entertainment expert witnesses may opine on motion picture distribution, media formats, and media piracy. The Motion Picture Association of America website describes how rogue websites traffic in stolen movies, TV shows, and music or even counterfeit prescription medications and other goods.

These sites are located throughout the world, and while they often look legitimate – featuring advertising from reputable companies, accepting major credit cards – they’re really online havens for theft, enabling criminals to profit from content or intellectual property they had nothing to do with creating.

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Patents expert witnesses may opine on computer patents, design patents, international patents and associated matters. In the news, Motorola lost a patent dispute in Munich against Apple regarding the “slide to unlock” feature on smartphones. The high court decided that two of the devices made by Motorola Mobility that are “unlocked” by sliding an icon across the screen infringe on Apple’s patent.

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In TRADEMARKS, INJUNCTIONS, AND eBAY v. MERCEXCHANGE: FROM AN EXPERT’S PERSPECTIVE media expert witness Michael A. Einhorn, Ph.D. writes:

This article is based on an expert analysis that I recently performed in a matter that concerned the unauthorized taking of a trademarked logo by a major media company. The facts of the case were as follows. Plaintiff in the year 2006 began providing conference services under a trademarked logo. Defendant appropriated use of the logo as a slogan for marketing of its similar offering in the year 2010. Plaintiff sought a Preliminary Injunction to stop immediately all infringing uses of the logo, so implicating the possibility of irreparable harm in the defendant’s use.

Read more: TRADEMARKS, INJUNCTIONS, AND eBAY v. MERCEXCHANGE.

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Video content expert witness Robert Schumann currently holds 13 issued and 11 pending US patents with many having foreign equivalents. These patents cover a broad range of technologies including digital watermarking, forensic watermarking, digital video analysis, digital video processing, digital video compression, digital video display, real-time systems, transaction processing, operating systems, and file management as well as DMCA technologies such as content encryption, key management, content protection, and anti-tamper technologies.

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In REASONABLE ROYALTIES AND THE ENTIRE MARKET VALUE RULE, royalties expert witness Michael A. Einhorn, Ph.D. writes:

Market-based royalty agreements based on negotiated bases and rates in comparable licenses then are practical guideposts that any court can consider in determining a reasonable royalty benchmark. There is no reason to attempt to determine whether the licensed feature drives demand. Nor is there much need to ponder whether the individual infringing and non-infringing components are sold together so that they constitute a functional unit or are parts of a complete machine or single assembly of parts, nor whether the component have a real or anticipated financial basis for market demand, single assembly, and a functional unit basis for market demand, single assembly, and a functional unit.

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In OSHA Regulations and their Complexity construction site expert witness William Gulya, Jr., President & CEO, Middlesex Trenching Company, writes:

Pick up the phone

Instead of beating your head against the wall endlessly searching OSHA or other agency websites, just pick up the phone and call them. You can even do so anonymously. This is one of the most expedient ways to make sure you get the right answers to your specific question. Too often people send off a sterile email that does not get a timely reply or the reply only provides you with more questions. To get the answers you need in a timely fashion, pick up the phone and talk to a real person; get a sense of their point of view, knowledge and conviction.

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In Tips for Using an Expert Witness Effectively, security expert witness Eric Coles writes:

In our culture we are urged to “trust the expert” – even in a court of law. The simple fact that the testimony of an expert witness is admissible in a trial shows how much we value the opinions of people who are considered authorities in their fields. This can have a very persuasive effect on a case, as long as the experts are carefully chosen and thoroughly prepared. Here are some tips for using an expert witness successfully. http://drericcole.blogspot.com/

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An insurance coverage expert witness testified in the Birmingham, AL, trial of Gabe Watson, charged with murder in the drowning death of his wife. Tina Thomas Watson died during their Australian honeymoon in 2003. The expert testified that Mrs. Watson could not increase her life insurance before her marriage which called into question the motive that her husband planned to benefit from her policy.

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Media expert witnesses may opine on media piracy, media formats, mass media, and related topics. In the news this week, the European court of justice has ruled that social network website Netlog is not required to install an an anti-piracy filtering system. The Belgian firm Sabam wanted Netlog and other social networks to monitor video and music posted by users in order to avoid copyright infringement.

Read more: curiaeuropa.eu.