“Coblentz Attorneys Protect Low-Income Consumers,” BASF Bulletin, November 2013

The Justice & Diversity Center thanks Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass for its recent exceptional volunteer efforts on behalf of low income consumers. By mid-August 2013, led by partner Fred Fields, the firm had taken, and resolved, three full scope representation collection defense cases. The Coblentz team accepted one case that was scheduled for trial within the month. Thanks to the firm’s work, each case resolved before trial with a mutual release that included an agreement by the third party debt-buyer plaintiff not to report the alleged debt to credit reporting agencies.

Continuing “the excellent work of Coblenz, Fields just took on another full-scope collection defense case that is set for trial in mid-December. Field’s noted, “Often these credit, card debt accumulators take unfair advantage of [unrepresented consumers], such as taking liberties with the requirements of personal service of process, or improperly using affidavits in lieu of personal testimony.”

Because of the Coblentz firm’s assistance, the low income consumers avoided the downward economic spiral caused by having a money judgment on their credit report, they were protected from a wage garnishment or levy, further impact on their credit reports and scores were minimized, and they avoided tax consequences on the settlement of disputed debts.

Phil Feldman has been selected as the 2014 San Francisco Litigation – Trusts & Estates “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers, the oldest and most respected peer-reviewed publication in the legal profession. The “Lawyer of the Year” honor is awarded to a single lawyer in 16 high-profile legal specialties. Phil has continually been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2005 in both Litigation – Trusts and Estates and the Trusts and Estates categories.

“We continue to believe – as we have believed for more than 25 years – that recognition by one’s peers is the most meaningful form of praise in the profession,” said Steven Naifeh, President of Best Lawyers. “We would like to congratulate Phil Feldman on being selected as the ‘San Francisco Best Lawyers Litigation – Trusts & Estates Lawyer of the Year’ for 2014.”

Congratulations to Karen Frank for being named a Top Women IP Lawyer by Managing Intellectual Property Magazine.

“Karen Frank, a former president of the Copyright Society of the USA, practices IP and business law at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass in San Francisco. Her clients include the advertising, food and beverage, and entertainment industries, including a major music company in its ongoing litigation in northern California.”

Click here for the full article.

Paul Tauber advised Accellera Systems Initiative (Accellera) in its acquisition of certain assets of the Open Core Protocol International Partnership (OCP-IP).  The asset acquisition includes the current OCP 3.0 standard and supporting infrastructure.  Accellera, an independent non-profit organization focused on the creation and adoption of electronic design automation (EDA) and intellectual property (IP) standards, has been collaborating on IP-standards for many years and is continuing to consolidate standardization practices.  Under one roof, the combined technologies are expected to provide a one-stop, front-end electronic design resource to address interoperability of IP design that will improve reuse, and ultimately increasing designer productivity and reducing development costs.  Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Jeff Knowles and Julie Greer are highlighted under section “III. THE LAWSUITS,” in the interview and article by Richard Nieva for Fortune Magazine.

“FORTUNE — Like the birth of most great music movements — Elvis on Ed Sullivan, Patti Smith at CBGB — Napster was rebellious of convention, threatening to established norms, and, well, really loud. The tiny startup from Hull, Mass. launched in early-1999, grabbing the world’s attention almost immediately. At its core was a clever-if-crude piece of software — so-called peer-to-peer technology — that allowed computers to easily send each other files over a network. It would transform the Internet into a maelstrom, definitively proving the web’s power to create and obliterate value.

It brought the music industry to its knees, eventually leading to an unprecedented legal battle over intellectual property. On behalf of the five major music labels, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) filed suit against Napster on December 6, 1999. The case reunited RIAA’s lawyer, Russell Frackman, with an old colleague, Jeff Knowles.”

Jeff and Julie represented music publishers and songwriters, who, along with the record companies, successfully sought to enjoin Napster’s infringing activities. Click here to read the full article and recollections from Jeff and Julie of a ground-breaking, hard fought case about the most important — and one of the most controversial — startups in early Internet history.