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This Week in Law 427: World War Gen Z, AT&T and Time Warner Merger Decision Fisking June 27, 2018

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Had a great time as always guest hosting on my favorite law netcast, This Week in Law, with Denise Howell and J. Michael Keyes, on June 22, 2018. Glad I could discuss Deep Fakes, “Gen Z” (persons between 13 and 23), Hamilton, ticket-buying bots, the Music Modernization Act and more.

What was yesterday’s “Mergers of Dystopia” (This Week in Law 247, February 21, 2014) is today’s At&T-Time Warner Merger, plus bonus California Net Neutrality Bill dilution.

Watch the replay here:

This Week in Law 427 with Denise Howell, Mike Keyes and Lisa Borodkin “World War Gen Z”

Oh, and p.s. don’t call it Velcro. It’s “hook and loop.”

Dumb Starbucks in Los Feliz February 12, 2014

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A Dumb Starbucks opened in my neighborhood over the weekend.

The Guardian asked me to write an op-ed piece on it, so I did.

“Dumb Starbucks was the perfect crime, but Starbucks was smart to play dumb.”

Dumb Starbucks at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, February 9, 2014. Photo: Lisa Borodkin

Dumb Starbucks at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, February 9, 2014. Photo: (c) Lisa Borodkin

A casual poll of my Los Feliz friends yielded a generally positive range of reactions. The stunt was funny, and timely. I had just attended a Digital LA panel on the future of Silicon Beach and Hollywood. In a world where there is a demonstrated consumer demand to skip through televison commercials (see Fox Broad. Co. v. Dish Network L.L.C., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 1657, 2014 WL 260572 (9th Cir. Cal. Jan. 24, 2014), a/k/a the “Dish Hopper” case), what is the future of the television commercial? I hope this is it.

I did find a funny typo in LEXIS misspelling Illinois’ anti-dilution statute as “antidelusion.” If only states could eliminate delusions so easily.

The only thing diluted by Dumb Starbucks was the coffee.

The only thing diluted by Dumb Starbucks was the coffee.

Anyway, the whole thing was a lot of fun, and I look forward to more terrible advice from Nathan and doomed retail establishments next to my dry cleaner.

Nathan Fielder says he’s going to open a Dumb Starbucks in Brooklyn next week. Let’s just hope it’s in Williamsburg.