Roger Skalbeck

In A Mega Deal, Clio Buys vLex for $1 Billion, Merging AI, Research and Practice Management In a landmark deal that will undoubtedly reshape the legal tech landscape, law practice management company Clio has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the AI and legal research company vLex for....

For additional coverage, check out this from @bobambrogi.bsky.social www.lawnext.com/2025/06/in-a...

Clio Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire vLex for US$1 Billion, Defining a New Era for AI-Powered Legal Technology Clio, the world’s leading provider of legal technology, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire vLex, a pioneer in legal intelligence that combines cutting-edge AI with the wor...

Fascinated that Clio @goclio.bsky.social is acquiring vLex for $1B. After the vLex Fastcase merger in 2023.

www.clio.com/about/press/...

Computers die, but you can always shine a light through a piece of plastic.

(Quote, I think, from Walt Crawford)

Quote skeet with a picture of the airplane you'll accept as bribe.

Five Takeaways from the Copyright Office’s Controversial New AI Report The Copyright Office released its AI fair use report a day before its leader was dismissed: the timing, the fallout, and what it all means.

@copyrightlately.bsky.social Aaron Moss has a summary of the pre-publication AI and © report and related coverage:

copyrightlately.com/copyright-of...

Is this "Action and Reaction" - after draft / pre-publication version of part 3 of the Copyright Office AI study was published?

copyright.gov/ai/Copyright...

White House fires head of Copyright Office amid Library of Congress shakeup The White House terminated U.S. Copyright Office Director Shira Perlmutter two days after firing the Librarian of Congress.

Register of Copyright - Shira Perlmutter terminated.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Comic about Campbell v. Acuff-Rose (2 Live Crew fair use decision from Souter)

osc.hul.harvard.edu/assets/files...

Justice Souter Bobblehead. In profile view.

Justice David H. Souter, pictured as a Bobblehead. Front view.

Rest in Peace, Justice Souter

“while I shall think myself bound to secure every man in the enjoyment of his copy-right, one must not put manacles upon science."

Justice Souter quoting Lord Ellenborough (1803) in a transformative case about Fair Use in copyright.

Graphic representation of the copyright duration for works created in the United States. The text description is as follows: Page 5 Figure highlighting three categories of copyright duration for works created on or after January 1, 1978. In general, copyright protects a work from the moment it is created and for the life of the author plus seventy years after the author’s death. It then enters the public domain in the United States. For joint works, which have multiple authors, copyright protects a work from the moment it is created and for the life of the authors plus seventy years after the last surviving author’s death. It then enters the public domain in the United States. For works made for hire and anonymous and pseudonymous works, copyright protects the work for 95 years after it is published or for 120 years after it is created, whichever comes first. It then enters the public domain in the United States. For more information on works made for hire and pseudonymous works, see the resources listed below. An asterisk denotes that, generally, a copyright-protected work enters the public domain in the United States when its full copyright term has expired.

I'll definitely use this in class next year.
Practical graphics, simple language, and more than superficial coverage.

Genuinely excited about the new Copyright Registration Toolkit from the U.S. Copyright Office.

www.copyright.gov/intellectual...

New law school innovation lab directory from the LIT Lab! — Suffolk LIT Lab The LIT Lab directory of law school legal innovation and technology labs is live!

And here's the explanation from Sam Glover and @qsteenhuis.bsky.social suffolklitlab.org/new-law-scho...

List of law school innovation and technology labs — Suffolk LIT Lab A directory of law school innovation and technology labs—academic programs for experiential and experimental learning.

Inspired by connections at SubTech Conference in Chicago - a director of law school innovation labs: suffolklitlab.org/projects/law...

I should find a way to schedule a reply to your work-related post, to make it look like I don’t “work” on the weekend.

So Nimitz library is an undergraduate college library? And they pulled 381 books that ... asked questions, proposed ideas ? Shouldn't we leave it to (college-aged) readers to decide for themselves?

I don't think they got the copy right on that one. I guess messing up these doctrines is a bit of a secret of the trade?

DOGE order leads to journal cancellations by U.S. agricultural library “We can’t do science without these,” one researcher says of the hundreds of journals no longer accessible

USDA cancels hundreds of journal subscriptions at the National Agricultural Library, one of five U.S. national libraries (via @bespacific.bsky.social) www.science.org/content/arti...

I always assume it is pronounced “sigh… pray….”

Image depicting Mona Lisa treated satirically as created in 1887 by Eugène Bataille [fr] (aka Sapeck) showing Mona Lisa smoking a pipe, published in Le Rire, available at: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2412478/f9.image

Thin © does have limitations, especially w/ selection and arrangement. With Duchamp's LHOOQ for comparison, it seems © could coexist with Mona Lisa smoking a pipe. Registration records attempt to reflect these limits, however imperfectly.

Image of a an inflatable pizza slice used as a floatation device for pools. It's taken from a copyright office review board refusal to register this work.

I *love* this. Just covered Silvertop in class.
After reading it, class guessed that this Pizza Slice Pool Float would have been granted © registration.

Spoiler alert: It wasn't. www.copyright.gov/rulings-fili...

There are hundreds of these records registered in the past few years. As @brianlfrye.bsky.social would probably note - might even call it "cheesy" - but it's registered nonetheless.

Here's the registration record, with relevant basis of claim and material excluded:

Basis of Claim
Selection, coordination, and arrangement of material generated by artificial intelligence.

Material Excluded
2-D artwork, AI generated image components.

publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-rec...

This Company Got a Copyright for an Image Made Entirely With AI. Here's How The image, called A Single Piece of American Cheese, was created using Invoke's AI editing platform.

Another story about "an AI work getting copyright" - after review from the U.S. Copyright Office. - which seems to be for selection and arrangement.

www.cnet.com/tech/service...

U.S. Copyright Office Releases Publication by Economic Scholars Identifying Economic Implications of Artificial Intelligence for Copyright Policy

Impressive list of contributors, and nice to see ongoing comments and context for AI + ©

www.copyright.gov/economic-res...

YouTube video by Beastie Boys - Topic Egg Man

Here's an eggscelent song for the egg heist soundtrack.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OgG...

An image of a painting “The Son of Man” by René Magritte appearing on the side of a Brussels hotel in the northern part of the city.

Well, that is also not a “uni pipe” - Happy Public Domain Day!!

There is a proposal to add golf courses to the list of works eligible for copyright protection. The horrible "backronym" is: BIRDIE: Bolstering Intellectual Rights against Digital Infringement Enhancement Act

www.congress.gov/bill/118th-c...

A two-panel cartoon about cell phones in courts. Top panel: "some courts have lockers" with a phone and lockers. Bottom panel "Some people use the bushes ... at their own peril!" with a phone hiding in the bushes.

I learned that some courts in North Carolina prohibit them.

Here's a panel from a "phones in courts" mini-comic I made, thinking Virginia is an outlier:

Access to Justice "survey" (open question for discussion):

In the US, how many courts prohibit cell phones in the court room? (specifically for parties / SRL / pro se / "non-attorneys")

Virginia prohibits phones in many locations.

Happy Days cast photo. With a picture used ironically to connect to a question of dated pop culture references, because it is hard to be hip but also happy with your choices 100% of the time.

Happy Days are here again!

Why worry about relevance in names and recognition? Have fun.

But also: consider cultural context. And maybe be deliberately different.