Priori Digest #258 | Mickey Mouse in the Public Domain, the “Seinfeld Law” & an Apple Watch Lawsuit

Happy New Year! At Priori, we’re so excited about what 2024 has in store for legal technology and legal talent.

To get a sense of the trends we’re seeing and why we are excited, I shared some thoughts in the annual Legaltech News Milestones and Predictions series about Hiring, Staffing and RTO in 2023 and we published trends that we saw on our legal marketplace in 2023. We also want to know what trends you’re thinking about heading into the new year: We just opened our second annual Legal Department Resolutions survey.

We’re also kicking off our events calendar this year with Legalweek on January 29 and Consero on February 4. Please come say hi!

In this 258th edition of the Digest, we look at an early version of Mickey Mouse entering the public domain, the “Seinfeld law” targeting telemarketers and Apple’s efforts to get the Apple Watch back on store shelves.?

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Warmly,

Basha Rubin | CEO & Co-Founder

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Legal News

• ?? We’re sending our congratulations to Jenn McCarron, Director of Legal Operations and Technology at Netflix, for being named the new president of CLOC (the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium).?
• ?? Following in the paw prints of last year’s Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, the “Steamboat Willie” version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain on January 1 and almost immediately a low-budget horror movie based on the character was announced.
• ?? New rules that some are calling the “Seinfeld law”—based on a famous scene from the show—took effect in New Jersey on Monday and aim to make telemarketing calls less bothersome by requiring callers to identify themselves and refrain from calling between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.

Legal Trivia

Answers at the end:?

1. As of January 1, 2024, which state has the highest minimum wage?

2. In what year was Martin Luther King Jr. Day officially recognized as a U.S. federal holiday?

3. A 2021 U.S. Supreme Court made some college sports stars millionaires by allowing them to profit from “NIL.” What does NIL stand for??

Tech News

• ?? You have a little less than a month to get your binging in on Amazon Prime Video without paying an extra fee to avoid ads after the company announced that ads are coming to its basic subscription tier on January 29.
• ? Apple is doing everything it can to minimize the effects of a patent infringement ruling against the company’s Apple Watch that stopped sales over the holidays—in addition to appealing the judgment they’re looking at a software solution to the infringement.
• ?? Several AI startups are heading into 2024 with a lofty and admirable goal: Improving cancer treatment by training their tech on patient data sets to better predict medication efficacy.?

Legal Quote of the Week?

“I predict that human judges will be around for a while. But with equal confidence I predict that judicial work—particularly at the trial level—will be significantly affected by AI.”

– Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts in his 2023 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary

Latest From LinkedIn

We recently announced our outside counsel decision-making platform, Scout, is powered by AI!

By the Numbers?

22

The number of states that increased their minimum wages on January 1.

?1,668?

The number of plant and animal species in the U.S. that are listed as endangered or threatened thanks to the Endangered Species Act, which celebrated its 50th birthday last week.

More From Priori

??? Our events calendar is already starting to fill up for 2024:??

• January 23 – Learn how AI can enhance solo and boutique practices in a webinar featuring David Drew, Priori VP, Legal & Business Affairs, Lynden Renwick, Managing Partner at Out-House Attorneys and Priori Network Attorney, and Daniel Lewis, U.S. CEO at LegalOn Technologies.
• January 29 – Join the Priori team at ALM | Law.com Legalweek 2024. It’s always a great show and we’re honored to be among the finalists for three awards.
• February 4 – Priori CEO and Co-Founder Basha Rubin is speaking at the Consero Corporate Legal Operations Forum. ??

Legal Trivia Answers

1. Washington at $16.28 (although several U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., are higher still).
2. 1983.
3. The athletes’ “name, image and likeness.”

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