Blog Posts by Subject: Law

President Barack Obama officially declared Tuesday, April 9, 2013 as National Equal Pay Day. In a statement issued Monday, April 8, Obama said, "Women, who make up nearly half of our nation's workforce, face a pay gap that means they earn 23 percent less on average than men do. This disparity is even greater for African-American women and Latinas. On National Equal Pay Day, we recognize this injustice by marking how far into the new year women have to work just to make what men did in the previous one."

Free legal resources on the Internet are great for everyone's needs. Until they aren't. So, what do you do next?

Our markets, our democracy, our science, our traditions of free speech, and our art all depend more heavily on a Public Domain of freely available material than they do on the informational material that is covered by property rights. The Public Domain is not some gummy residue left behind when all the good stuff has been covered by property law. The Public Domain is the place we quarry the building blocks of our culture. It is, in fact, the majority of our culture.
—James Boyle, The Public Domain, p.40f, 2008, quoted on the Public Domain Manifesto.

We pride ourselves on our United States patent system. But, to misquote, all patents are local (or at least national). So anyone who wants patent protection in another country will have to meet the filing and legal requirements of that national government. And, of course, do a patent search!

For about a decade now it has been feasible to conduct prior art research for a U. S. Patent entirely online using free search tools available on the USPTO website. Although the availability of patent research resources online has not diminished the challenges of prior art searching, it has certainly made the activity more convenient.

Some may regret the passing of libraries receiving goverment information in paper form. But the goal of digitization isn't sensory deprivation; and anyway, paper materials started to disappear before the Internet came along — think microfiche, microfilm, even microcards (and yes, we have some of those at NYPL). Maybe someday all official goverment documents will be available online. However, not yet — there are still paper, and microform, collections here at SIBL.

At some time in their life, most New York City residents will need to employ an attorney. This may reflect the need to make a will, a landlord-tenant dispute, a divorce, an accusation that one has committed a crime or as a result of a foreclosure or a business dispute. While there are certain legal resources available to those who have limited financial means and there are always attorneys from the larger and more expensive law firms who are employed by landlords, banks, corporations or the wealthy, many other New Yorkers may have a need for legal representation and may not know how or where to find it.

Last June, I made note of one of SIBL's patent pamphlets cataloged long ago as the Haitian Patent Law for 1826. I had my doubts about it, and wondered if anyone could help. Now, to wrap things up I thought I'd share some of what I learned here... and give an answer to the question "what is it?"

These services are generally available only to those of limited financial means. However, there are also certain legal services that are available for those of moderate means. If you are a person of limited financial means who faces a civil legal issue — one that is not a criminal offense — certainly the most comprehensive source of information about your legal rights is LawHelp.org. Its assistance is also available in Spanish at AyudaLegalNY.org. If you click on words, terms or agencies on this website, you will encounter a variety of providers of legal assistance to tenants, consumers, senior citizens, small business owners and victims of discrimination. Certain 

Without a doubt, the best location in the New York Public Library to conduct legal research about legal issues that arise in either the state or the city of New York is the Science Industry and Business Library. SIBL has a selective law library that contains such essential New York legal research tools as McKinney’s Consolidated Statutes of New York (annotated with New York and federal cases and state agencies that cite the statutes) and these statutes online without annotations.

Thursday, March 15 was Freedom of Information Day here at SIBL. I would like to offer a big round of thanks (I'd add a round of applause, but don't have the audio file) to our speaker this year, Robert Weissman, president of the advocacy organization Public Citizen. His informative and inspiring presentation was very much appreciated!

Arguably the most important American lawyer of the 20th century, Thurgood Marshall was on the verge of bringing the landmark suit Brown versus Board of Education when he became embroiled in an explosive and deadly case that threatened to change the course of the civil rights movement and cost him his life. Author Gilbert King's new book Devil in the Grove, published later this month by HarperCollins, is the definitive biography of the young Marshall before he came to nationwide prominence by arguing Brown and a tale of his involvement in a now forgotten capital rape case that was held far from the Supreme Court, in a sweltering court house in a Klan-infested rural Florida 

I've Got a Secret. From a simpler time, it's a TV show title — one that, along with To Tell the Truth, becomes a whole lot darker in meaning in many a modern context. The simple, innocent deceptions that amused TV audiences in days of yore have given way to glaring problems in the public forum where stealth can disarm legitimate opposition and carry off the prize.

The talent pool in patents and trademarks at SIBL is deep — which means we're almost always ready to answer IP questions on the spot when they come up. But I've been lucky and have had the opportunity to wear the patent and trademark hat — yes, there is one, it won first place in a contest a few years ago! And among the privileges this brings is the opportunity to invite U.S. Patent and Trademark Office representatives to come to SIBL every couple of years for public and staff presentations.

An ancient stock certificate found in a drawer after someone dies; selling shares that grandma gave us a long time ago; investment paperwork lost in a move. The stories all seem different, but in each case the question is the same — what has happened to a company since these shares of stock were purchased?

I served on the grand jury of the Bronx County Court House from mid-September to mid-October this year. I have always wanted to serve on the jury, so I was thrilled to do so. I was questioned for possible juror services for a trial jury in Albany, NY in 2002, but I was in library school at the time, so I was glad that I was not selected. And I was called for grand jury service in August of 2010, but I was between libraries (I was transferring), so I was glad that I was not selected. The summertime is very busy for the Library, since the kids are not in school, so autumn is the perfect time.

November 8 is fast approaching, and with it the Intellectual Property day at SIBL, featuring representatives from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This seems like a good opportunity to recommend one of the Library's best sources for information about trademarks, Stephen Elias and Richard Stim's Nolo book Trademark — Legal Care for Your Business and Product Name.

In polite conversation, it is unusual for people to talk about taxes. In other situations, they may be mentioned or discussed. And as we know, they are frequently a topic for political rants and news.

No, no, no ... you can't try them on for size! They're not that kind of jacket — they're not clothing at all. They are, however, the most frequently asked for resource for New York State legislative history here at SIBL.