The District Court found that plaintiffs made a strong showing of copyright infringement, raised serious questions of trademark violations, enjoining publication and marketing of the book as exceeding the fair use doctrine. Notable Cases from the Circuit Courts of Appeal First Circuit - Zoning ordinance discriminating between permissible commercial and noncommercial onsite and offsite sign messages violated the First Amendment. Fourth Circuit - Agreeing with two other circuits, unanimously affirmed a decision upholding the right of a North Carolina high school to require that students perform at least 50 hours of unpaid community service before graduation. Fifth Circuit - Upheld Lanham Act false advertising claims against a soft drink manufacturer which misled independent bottlers to switch brands. Seventh Circuit - Held that a District Court was without power to require a woman convicted of criminal fraud to quitclaim her home to the victim as restitution.
Statutory damages are a legal remedy.
Eleventh Circuit - Employees offered a severance package in exchange for releasing of liability claims against an employer must be given more than 24 hours to consider signing the release. The Court also denied certiorari and left standing a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which struck down a University of Texas law school admissions policy favoring Black and Hispanic applicants. It was undisputed that the wife was an innocent and unknowing party. Of the two dissenting opinions, it was Justice Stevens, writing for three members of the Court, who offered a stinging condemnation of the majority decision. Criticism has also come from editorial writers across the nation, with almost four dozen major newspapers chastising the majority.