Category: News Feeds

Reports Tuesday also indicated government through the National Joint Negotiating Council had invited civil servants representatives to a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, June 5th.

Among issues to be discussed at the meeting according to the invite seen by New Zimbabwe.com are “a cost of living adjustment and sector-specific allowances.”

While there were also claims of a possible salary adjustment immediately, Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube, told a post-Cabinet media briefing on Tuesday that government has not set aside any money for the purposes of giving a cushion allowance to its employees.

“Government has not set aside RTGS$500 million to cushion civil servants. We would have to enter first a proper process which we always do before reaching any figure.

“But let me say this, government is always sensitive to the plight of civil servants and we can review from time to time within our means and within our coffers. But currently we have not set aside RTGS$500 million,” said Ncube.

“That remains a rumour, a wrong rumour as well.”

In April government gave its workers a 22% salary adjustment that reportedly translated to just around RTGS$50. This was however immediately wiped out by rampaging inflation with unions dismissing it as unsustainable.

Media reports claim there are plans for nationwide protests over the deteriorating economic situation with security on high alert.

A 150% fuel price increase in January triggered violent protests that left 17 people dead and scores injured.

The opposition MDC has indicated it is planning to protests against government failure to deal with the country economic crisis. Prices of basic commodities continue to increase fueled by the sharp decrease in the value of the local currency and a parallel market rate that has spiraled out of control.

The Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) has already embarked on a go-slow while nurses last week gave government a 14-day notice for industrial action.

On the other hand teachers remain unhappy and “consulting” on the course of action to take. Ncube has appealed for patience and understanding while President Emmerson Mnangagwa is convinced his reform agenda that has received the blessing of international multi-lateral institutions is on course.

Speculation has been rife that government is planning to cushion its workers further. The Civil Service Commission a few months ago revealed it would consider a further cushion to all government workers mid-year.

Post published in: Business

The facts of the case are pretty simple. DynaStudy created a number of study guides. These guides were apparently particularly helpful, so the principal of a Houston high school purchased some, made copies, then distributed them to students. The study guides included an express statement on the bottom, “Copying this material is strictly prohibited.” A teacher pointed this statement out to the principal, who brushed off the concerns and the teacher replied via email, “I’m ok with violating it though . . . lol.” Additional emails were also included in evidence in the litigation. In some cases, employees cropped out or covered up DynaStudy’s logo and the copyright warnings, then distributed these copies throughout the district. Some copies ended up far beyond the Houston school district, and the guide was found publicly posted online in states as far as New Jersey.

This case is a pretty egregious case of copyright infringement, with administrators and educators either completely ignorant of copyright law or aware and content to ignore the ramifications. Neither willful blindness nor blatant disregard for copyright law go over well in copyright cases.

Let’s start with the teacher’s emailed response. Of course that email was going to end up in discovery. A jury is not going to look favorably on a blatant admission that someone is “ok with violating” copyright. Additionally, the fact that teachers removed DynaStudy’s logo and cropped out or covered up the copyright statement seems to indicate that they were reproducing and distributing the works with full knowledge that they were likely violating copyright law.

Goodbye innocent infringement defense, hello statutory damages. Remember that the Copyright Act requires a court to remit statutory damages where an employee of a nonprofit educational institution — like a high school — acting in the scope of his employment, believed that his reproduction of copyrighted works was fair use. Clearly not the case here, and the final jury verdict awarding DynaStudy $9.2 million confirmed that blatant disregard for copyright results in major damages.

Attorneys representing the Houston school district tried to assert that the staffers were unaware that they were violating copyright. Again, clearly not the case given the email exchanges DynaStudy used to bolster their claims.

The attorneys also tried to claim that the reproduction and distribution constituted fair use. Any regular readers of this weekly column will know that I’m a huge fan of fair use. I believe that robust use of the fair use right is critical in ensuring balance in the U.S. copyright system, particularly as we generally see a one-way ratchet in increasing the rights of rightholders, not users. But this case is clearly not a fair use case.

Sometimes, people mistakenly think that any educational use will be considered a fair use. This idea is a myth. While the fair use statute, codified in Section 107 of the Copyright Act, does note that a valid fair use purpose could include “teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use)” and the first factor notes that one consideration is “whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes,” courts must still apply the four factors to determine whether that particular use is fair. Not all educational uses are fair uses, otherwise textbooks wouldn’t cost so much. If all education uses were fair, a teacher could purchase one copy of a biology textbook at $120 and make 90 copies for each of his freshman biology students.

Applying the four factors, it is clear that the Houston school district’s use falls short. While the purpose and character of the use could favor the school district, the third factor (the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the whole) would weight against the use. The school district basically copied the other entire guide, rather than excerpting a small portion. They used the entire guide — except where they removed DynaStudy’s logo and copyright warning — and did nothing to adapt or transform the work. The fourth factor — the effect of the use on the potential market — also clearly weighs against the use because the proliferation of copies and distribution to students meant that neither the school district nor the students (or parents of the students) were purchasing these guides from DynaStudy. I certainly remember purchasing similar laminated study guides when I was a high school student for chemistry, calculus, Spanish, and other courses. Would I have spent my hard-earned money on these guides if I had been given copies for free by my school? Probably not. I would’ve used that money to go to the movies or have smoothies with my friends.

Following the verdict, the school district issued a statement noting that all of its employees would participate in online copyright training each year. Principals will receive additional training. This copyright training is clearly needed, to avoid any assumptions that all education uses are fair uses or that simply removing a copyright statement renders that work free from copyright. Of course, good copyright training should also make teachers aware of their fair use rights (I hope this $9.2 million verdict won’t forever scare away teachers in the school district from exercising legitimate fair uses); this case is simply an example of what is not fair use.

Krista L. Cox is a policy attorney who has spent her career working for non-profit organizations and associations. She has expertise in copyright, patent, and intellectual property enforcement law, as well as international trade. She currently works for a non-profit member association advocating for balanced copyright. You can reach her at kristay@gmail.com.

For most of Mubwandarika’s 35-year teaching career, the salary was good – enough to cover all the basic expenses, and more.

“I didn’t even look at the price tag when buying,” he says.

But as Zimbabwe’s economy sputters and the government adapts its currency model to try and revive it, Mubwandarika says he now struggles to meet his family’s basic needs.

In response to a Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe policy enacted in October 2018, banks converted all money in customer accounts to RTGS units. Until then, U.S. dollars were the most commonly used form of currency. RTGS is a common term in international banking that stands for real-time gross settlement. But in Zimbabwe, it’s now the name of a pseudo-currency that effectively functions as a new Zimbabwean dollar.

An RTGS unit, locally known as a dollar, trades at roughly 5.07 to 7.1 to the U.S. dollar. But when the government denominated electronic banking transactions into RTGS, the numbers stayed the same, even though the value did not. One RTGS dollar was deemed equivalent to one U.S. dollar. Yet, salaries haven’t increased, and ordinary Zimbabweans are left to make do with incomes that are a fraction of what they earned before the abrupt October 2018 change.

And the RTGS dollars only exist electronically. As physical currency, they can be withdrawn in the form of bond notes, which have yet another rate of exchange with the U.S. dollar.

Global Press Journal reporters covered the story and noted the change’s immediate and devastating impact. Many Zimbabweans were confused by the change, and some panicked when they realized that their bank balances had been seriously devalued.

Now, months later, no one can ignore the fact that a huge portion of the money they might have saved is gone, and that any payment made electronically is worth a fraction of what it should be.

Global Press Journal reporters sought an interview with the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe but did not receive a response.

Mubwandarika says he takes home just 200 RTGS dollars. The value of RTGS currency changes constantly, but in mid-May, that was valued at $40. Before October, Mubwandarika took home $200 in U.S. dollars.

His rent alone is 150 RTGS dollars (about $18), he says.

“I have been borrowing to survive and I cannot borrow anymore,” he says. “The situation is really bad for most civil servants and the bulk of people living in Zimbabwe.”

Raymond Majongwe, the secretary general for the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, says the government has abandoned civil servants by not ensuring they are paid at a level that matches the U.S. dollars agreed upon in their contracts.

“The government is not taking care of its employees,” he says.

Inflation has pushed prices of basic goods way up, far beyond what they cost even before the government’s switch to RTGS currency.

By spring of this year, the basket filled with basic goods meant to indicate the monthly needs of an average family cost 781 RTGS dollars (about $95), Rosemary Siyachitema, executive director of the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, told GPJ.

Many families can’t afford the basics, she says. Even retailers are forced to exchange RTGS dollars for foreign currency on the black market to stock their shelves.

Prices have gone up gradually in recent years, Siyachitema says, but there was a serious spike in 2017 during a spate of extreme inflation, then again in October with the shift to RTGS dollars. Even with those price hikes, she says, salaries haven’t increased.

Savings accounts have taken a serious hit. Denford Mutashu, president of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers, said in a written statement to Global Press Journal that pensions were all but wiped out with the shift to RTGS dollars. Now, with little disposable income and paltry savings at best, he wrote, many Zimbabweans can’t afford to meet their own day-to-day needs.

Mubwandarika, the schoolteacher, says the situation for ordinary Zimbabweans is desperate. That’s made worse, he says, in light of Zimbabwe’s potential.

“Our county is rich in resources,” he says. “If those could be channelled towards making our lives better, that would be helpful.”

Post published in: Business

The New York Law Journal, an ALM property, has been publishing daily coverage of important news about the legal profession in the Empire State for more than 130 years. The paper has been tweeting its coverage since July 2011, but all of that came to a grinding halt sometime yesterday when Twitter decided it was time to give the NYLJ the boot.

Jay Kirsh, president of Media for ALM, was pretty confused about the situation:

(@associatesmind is better known as Keith Lee, one of our former columnists.)

If you try to access the @NYLawJournal’s account on Twitter, this is what you’ll see:

Twitter: where neo-Nazis are welcome, but law journals are persona non grata.

At this point, the New York Law Journal has been suspended from Twitter for more than 24 hours without any justification. In the era of so-called fake news, with real legal news being constantly churned out from one of the most active jurisdictions in the country, it’s critical that the New York Law Journal’s account be reinstated.

Do the right thing, Twitter, and do it now. This is absurd.

Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

During Mugabe’s four-decade rule until 2017, he would routinely blame European “colonialists” for Zimbabwe’s problems, and snarled at EU and U.S. sanctions for rights and vote abuses.

The EU has only kept sanctions on Mugabe, his wife and the state arms manufacturer, but is yet to resume direct funding to the new government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, preferring to channel money through local charities and U.N. agencies.

With the economy afflicted by dollar shortages, fuel queues, power-cuts, and soaring prices, Mnangagwa has said restoring ties with the West and multilateral lenders like International Monetary Fund is one of his major priorities.

At the start of the open-ended talks between diplomats and officials in Harare, EU Zimbabwe delegation head Timo Olkkonen said they would discuss issues including economic development, trade, investment, rights, rule of law and good governance.

The government has already signed up to an IMF monitoring programme where it has committed to political and economic reforms in a bid to set a track record of fiscal discipline that could earn it debt forgiveness and future financing.

At a separate event in a Harare hotel, Mnangagwa signed a new bill creating a tripartite negotiating forum intended to bring labour, business and government together to shape policy.

The 76-year-old leader is under pressure to deliver on pre-election promises and wants to avert a repeat of violent protests over a steep fuel price hike in January.

Later on Wednesday, the government is expected to start wage negotiations with public sector unions, who say a pay rise of up to 29% they received in April had already been eroded by inflation, now at a 10-year high of 75.86 %.

Mnangagwa has promised to break with his predecessor and says his “open for business” mantra will woo foreign investors. But critics say under his rule the economy shows no signs of improving while security forces have continued to crush dissent.

Post published in: Business

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Before Jeopardy phenom James Holzhauer’s defeat on Monday, people were already chattering about the end of his epic run because many had already watched it happen. Somewhere along the line, someone leaked clips of the episode and tipped off the world and now Jeopardy might pursue legal action.

Maybe they can make back some of the money they owe Holzhauer.

The working theory is that someone with a local affiliate — the folks who get copies of the episodes before airtime — put the word out there. As one might expect, that’s a breach of the show’s agreement with the stations and a duty the show takes pretty seriously:

[Seth] Berenzweig compared the event to someone pirating the final five minutes of HBO’s Game of Thrones finale and releasing it early on social media.

Yes, what if Americans were able to be thoroughly disappointed a few hours early? I mean, Bran knew how it was going to end and he looking frigging miserable the whole time.

But one potential stumbling block for Jeopardy’s lawsuit is that it’s hard to tell exactly what harm the show suffered:

“This apparent breach was egregious, given the heightened viewership with the record-setting performance of the contestant, who was on the cusp of breaking the show’s all-time record,” Berenzweig said. “The harm from this is significant, because many viewers may have decided to not watch the show after hearing the spoiler alert, which would decrease ratings for advertisers.”

Despite the spoiler, the “Jeopardy!” episode that aired Monday night was the top-rated installment of the show since May 2005, according to Nielsen. But could viewership have been even higher?

Objectively, there’s an argument that Monday’s episode was the greatest game of Jeopardy ever played. The players combined to offer only one wrong answer — or question as the case may be — the entire game. It was bonkers and America flocked to the episode in droves whether or not they knew the outcome because figuring out how James managed to finally tumble was worth the half-hour investment.

There’s doubtless a defined penalty in the contract, but the really big bucks would seem to be off the table given the show’s ratings. A producer from the show said they’re looking to take “very, very, very appropriate” action. That’s a bit vague to decipher, but we’ll take a shot:

What is a lawsuit? Alex.

‘Jeopardy!’ star James Holzhauer’s leaker could face legal trouble [Fox Business]

Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. Joe also serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.

A major trend in the legal industry has been the growth of alternative legal service providers and, in particular, legal process outsourcing companies. A 2019 report by Thomson Reuters documented the accelerated growth of ALSPs in recent years, noting that two years ago, the sector was still nascent and poorly defined, but that now ALSPs make up a market that is “better defined, quickly growing, and broadly adopted.”

News today from Microsoft Corporation and the legal process outsourcing company Integreon underscores the extent to which major corporations are working with LPOs.

The two companies have revealed that, over the course of a 10-year partnership, Integreon has grown its Microsoft operation from a single U.S.-based specialist team in 2009 to now providing managed legal services across five delivery centers on three continents and in 14 languages worldwide.

Microsoft first contracted with Integreon in 2009 to support its Global Contracting Office (GCO) with a team based in Fargo, N.D., providing contract lifecycle management (CLM) services. There, Integreon implemented a team for drafting, negotiating, and managing certain categories of Microsoft’s high-volume, low-risk procurement contracts. That relationship has continued ever since, with Integreon operating as an extension of Microsoft’s GCO, while expanding both the in-scope categories of contracts and range of services provided.

A year later, in 2010, Integreon took over Microsoft’s internal help-desk services, while gradually expanding both its geographic coverage and languages supported. During 2013 and 2014, Microsoft worked with Integreon to select and install a new CLM system, after which Integreon took on the role of providing ongoing administration and intake support for the new platform. Microsoft also engaged Integreon to provide contract review, data abstraction and migration of about 22,000 agreements to the new system.

In 2014, Integreon opened offices in Mumbai to support Microsoft contract administration services, and then in 2017, opened offices in Manila to support Microsoft in the APAC region.

In 2018, Integreon scaled up to take on an increased volume of Microsoft’s contract reviews to ensure compliance with the GDPR data protection regulation.  Most recently, Integreon has worked to support and maximize Microsoft’s own tools, such as its automated contract helpdesk LexiBot, and to leverage new technologies such as, robotic process automation and artificial intelligence tools such as Kira.

As of today, according to the two companies, Integreon:

• Employs nearly 80 dedicated Microsoft associates who review up to 24,000 contracts annually.
• Manages up to 90,000 contract entities in Microsoft’s CLM platform annually and completes up to 14,000 contract help desk resolutions per year.
• Operates five delivery centers for Microsoft in Fargo, N.D., Charlotte, N.C., Bristol in the U.K., Mumbai, and Manila.
• Provides support in 14 languages including English, Chinese, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.

In announcing this news today, Bob Rowe, CEO of Integreon, said that he is proud of the decade of results Integreon has achieved on behalf of Microsoft.

“Microsoft and Integreon have built a strong partnership based on trust, quality and performance, and we are committed to securing that relationship and evolving it in a positive direction,” he said.

Jason Barnwell, Microsoft’s assistant general counsel-legal business, operations, and strategy, talked about his company’s work with Integreon on a recent episode of his Business of Law podcast.

“Our global contracting office supports the procurement and contracting legal team within our corporate legal group,” he said. “This service allows our legal department to serve Microsoft’s need for procurement contracting velocity, volume, and compliance. Integreon is a critical partner for this work.”