Frank Gorman of Gorman & Williams is in Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show. It’s Gorman’s first time at CES since 2007, although he attended for most of the Aughts.

The Baltimore lawyer says he goes “to see and keep up with technology,” which helps in his intellectual property practice. He is also an enthusiastic advocate of courtroom technology.

Gorman has graciously offered to write a few dispatches from Vegas. Today is an overview of CES; Monday he’ll have a look at some of the cool gadgets that are the hallmark of the event.

Gadgets aside, the big-picture story at CES 2011 is the increasing competition among the major players in the industry as they use existing technologies to create new products and services.

CES 2011 is big and sprawling, as in previous years. There are more than 2,700 exhibitors with booths in the Las Vegas Convention Center touting an incredible variety of consumer electronic products and services. There is a full array of conferences, presentations, and keynote speakers. There are thousands of registered attendees. Lots of deals will be made. In short, the excitement in Las Vegas this week is the event itself.

CES this year, however, is not a showcase for breakthrough technologies that permit consumers to do things they could not do before. In previous years, the excitement came from dramatic changes: broadband replaces dial-up; streaming digital content from its source eliminates the need for CDs and DVDs; Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) ends the monopoly of keyboarding and permits consumers to communicate over the Internet by voice; wireless frees consumers from cords.

Instead, CES 2011 is the arena for the competing products that have resulted from high-level market competition in the industry. Software giants Google, Microsoft, Apple are each innovating and maneuvering to gain dominance in markets previously dominated by the others.

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Judging by the reader responses to news that the word “Hon” has been trademarked, some Baltimoreans might have a new name for Cafe Hon owner Denise Whiting: Atilla.

The great John McIntyre explains why this touches a nerve:

What leads to the raised voices is the question of ownership of language. And with that question come all the overtones of social class, local history and culture, and personal likes and dislikes that crowd in on discussions of language and ensure that such discussions will never be neutral or unemotional.

Coincidentally, The New York Times had a story yesterday about athletes trademarking their catchphrases. I did not know that Nike owns the right to the name “LeBron.”

The lesson? I better call a lawyer now about the legal rights for “pulling a Danny.”

Two items of interest from the November Issue of the ABA Journal (at least to me):

• The cover story is about how a 33-year-old solo practitioner in Cleveland named David Mills will be arguing his first case before the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 1. The story provides a blueprint of sorts for building an appellate law practice. To say Mills was a longshot is putting it kindly:

“His law office is located in a spare bedroom in his apartment. He has no staff, except for his part-time paralegal, Elisabeth, who goes by another title: Mom. His client, for payment, offered him the title of her Jeep and made him an afghan.”

• Some people aspire to have buildings named after them. Me, I’d rather follow the lead of Bruce Freitag, who had a portable toilet named after him. Freitag served as longtime counsel for Porta-John Industries; the Freitag Comfort Station has hardwood floors, a skylight, working sink and ceramic toilet that flushes. The company’s CEO said they named it after the “classiest guy” they knew.

Paul Allen

Happy Monday! While Danielle tries not to be a hurricane, finding those delicious legal tidbits is up to me. Here we go:

• Law Shucks calls it Paul Allen’s “gift to BigLaw”: the Microsoft founder is suing Google, Apple, YouTube and other Internet giants for patent violations.
• A group of Kansans is arguing the state’s selection and appointment process for Supreme Court justices violates the 14th Amendment because some commission members are only selected by lawyers. (HT: Constitutional Law Prof.)
• Thank you, Legal Marketing Blog.com!
• Meet the lawyer who will be representing Roger Clemens in the star pitcher’s federal perjury case. (HT: WSJ’s Law Blog.)
• Disturbing, potentially devastating news from the Jersey Shore. (I never thought anything could overshadow “That’s one shot!“)

Uh oh, sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays!!! Hopefully our law links provide the antidote. (Note: Loyal readers recall Caryn Tamber writing last week that Danielle Ulman would take over the blog round-up. Danielle will, but today she is getting situated in her new business-of-law chair, so you’re stuck with me.)

“Is there a legal angle to the WikiLeaks story?” The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog asks — and answers that it’s unlikely the government can successfully prosecute anyone connected to the leak.

• Who knew pomegranate juice had so much bite? A D.C. judge prevents the National Law Journal from publishing details from documents it legally obtained in a lawsuit involving Hogan Lovells and POM Wonderful.  (HT: ABA Law Journal)
• Above the Law wishes good luck to everyone taking the Bar Exam this week. (As do we. But really, shouldn’t you be studying?)
• Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the best ways to recruit clients, and here’s a study that proves it. (HT: LawMarketing Blog)
• First Mel Gibson. Now Oliver Stone? Oy!

One of the best parts of the World Cup is the national teams’ nicknames. You’ve got the champion Furia Roja and the runner-up Oranje, not to mention El Tri, the Super Eagles and the Blue Samurai, to name a few.

(You can see a full list here. The U.S. is nicknamed the Yanks, which is, well, kinda lame.)

Outside of the Socceroos, however, the best nickname is Bafana Bafana, which belongs to South Africa. Sort of.

That’s because the phrase “Bafana Bafana” (Zulu for “boys, boys”) was actually copyrighted by a South African businessman in 1994. The South African Football Association, which uses the name, lost a lawsuit before the country’s highest court for control of the name in 2002.

Earlier this week, a South African government official suggested Bafana should be changed because of the lack of a copyright. As the AP noted in its story, “There is no indication the current owners of the brand will sue SAFA for using the term, but the country’s soccer association is unable to market it and make money from it.”

SAFA officials said this week they might seek the public’s help in choosing a new nickname. One thing’s for sure: whatever is chosen will probably be better than the Yanks.

(Hat Tip to vuvusela2010bafana.wordpress.com for the photo above.)

(Note: The headline is the first of several bee references I plan to pollinate throughout this blog post. You’ve been warned.)

The University of Baltimore reintroduced its Bee mascot on campus Thursday. The Bee has been part of UB since 1937, but was largely extinct from campus for 30 years. It was more of a reflection of the campus demographics (a lot of part-time, adult students who commuted) than any allergic reaction to a mascot.

“I don’t think there was much of a push because people didn’t care,” said Susan Luchey, director of the Center for Student Involvement.

That changed in recent years with the re-introduction of undergraduate classes. The newest freshmen had been bugging the administration about a mascot, drawing bees in the school newspaper and even giving it a Facebook page.

“They’re looking for an identity in their school, and a mascot is one of those ways,” Luchey said. “Students are excited, but they’re almost embarrassed to say they’re excited.”

Spencer Mierzejewski, a first-year law student, is not one of those students. Mierzejewski got stung by mascot fever after he heard a UB alum utter the phrase “Super Bees.” Having never heard the phrase and shocked the school even had a mascot, he decided to find out more and wrote about spotting bees all over campus on UB’s official blog.

“It’s nice to have something recognizable that stands for the University of Baltimore,” he said.

Mierzejewski said he’d like to see the Bee land in a moot court session. Luchey said the Bee will be at many university functions, from open houses to orientations to graduations. Alumni have already inquired about the Bee making an appearance at their events, Luchey added.

“It’s another notch in the belt of UB becoming a traditional campus,” she said.

Happy Monday!

• An innocent man from Baltimore has been in prison for more than 25 years, writes Dan Rodricks.
• Should jurors get to ask questions at trial?
• Are you an unemployed attorney? Sue your law school!
• New projections say the legal market has stabilized and will grow 3 percent next year.
• This sounds like a distasteful and offensive way to market your legal services, but does it merit sanctions?
• Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick summarizes each Judiciary Committee member’s vote on Sotomayor–in haiku. Awesome.

Yesterday’s ninth-inning comeback from the Red Sox — one night after the Orioles executed a similar feat against them — highlighted what has become a theme for Baltimore this year: you never know which O’s squad you’re going to get.

The Orioles have been streaky this year, to say the least.  Seven-game losing streaks, five-game winning streaks. They blanked the Rays one night then allowed 11 runs the next. They were scoreless against the Yankees on May 8, then touched home plate 12 times the next night. More than half of their wins have come from runs scored in late innings.

I recently heard a radio ad highlighting the fact that the Orioles have been an exciting team to watch because you can’t count them out in the later innings. Last year, the O’s marketing team launched a tongue-and-cheek promotion around the team’s bad luck on Sundays. At that point, the Orioles had a 13-game losing streak at Camden Yards on Sundays and marketers launched a “You Win We Win” promotion on July 6 that promised to give fans a free ticket to a future, non “prime” game to fans in attendance that day if the O’s broke their Sunday streak.

From talking with fans, I get the sense that there isn’t really any ill will about the streakiness because most know it’s just a characteristic of a young squad.  That being the case, can you market this unpredictability? The radio commercial I mentioned touches on it, but I wonder if team marketers can take it a step further and design a promotion around the team’s come-from-behind drama they’ve frequently displayed at home.

For example, they could print up a bunch of $8 off and $9 off ticket coupons and have them ready to hand out after a game for an eighth- or ninth-inning comeback (making it clear to fans that the go-ahead run is scored in one of those innings for the promotion to take effect).

On the other hand, as the manager of a ball club, you want to see your team jump out early and hold on to the lead. Would a promotion like the one I mentioned be a conflict in philosophy?

You must check out this video.

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Here’s the story: Micah Buchdahl is a legal marketer in New Jersey. He was approached by a mid-size law firm in a top five market to work on a marketing campaign for lateral recruitment. (He won’t say which firm; the reason for that will become very clear in just a moment.) The firm wanted “edgy,” they said.

Buchdahl figured he’d create a mini-movie and try to get it to go viral on the Internet, generating some real buzz for the firm. He wrote a script for three installments and had the first one produced by some friends in California. It’s pretty polished and pretty funny. It shows a young megafirm partner trying to talk to a comically arrogant managing partner about his future. (Memorable exchange: “Gary, what can I do for you?” “I’m Steve. Steve Johnson.” “Of course you are.” And: “We think the world of you. There’s not a better IP attorney in the city.” “I’m a real estate lawyer.” And also: “We want you here as long as it makes sense.” “What does that mean?” “It means you’re here until you’re not.”)Watch to the end for a bleeped expletive, which Buchdahl sort of wavered about including. “Obviously, it’s designed to make you flinch a little bit,” he told me yesterday.

When he screened the ad for the firm’s management committee, they were “horrified,” Buchdahl said.

“Using the word ‘hate’ wouldn’t do the word ‘hate’ justice,” he said.

It wasn’t even the expletive that got them, he said. No one cracked a smile during the whole four-minute video.

He had told the firm before showing them the video that if they didn’t like it, they didn’t have to pay for it. He figured the couple of thousand it cost him to make would be an investment; maybe he could find a firm that was interested in using it. But the firm actually offered to pay for it so they could destroy it. They told him they liked the concept but wanted something a little more “traditional,” which he took to mean your standard recruiting video. He said he thinks the real reason they wanted the video was because they were afraid of being proven wrong if another firm bought it and found success with it.

“That’s when I said, I’m still going to put it out there but I’m going to release it as my own marketing tool, just put it out there,” Buchdahl said. He said it would be great if a firm wanted to buy it and even better if they wanted him to make the other two installments, but he is at least hoping a lot of people watch it.

So he hired a viral video expert to get the ad out, and they posted it Monday to a bunch of Internet video sites. He also sent it to some friends, including one of my editors here, who passed it on to me.

What do you think of Buchdahl’s skewering of big law firms? If you’d been on the managing committee of the firm that hired him, would you have shown him the door or taken the chance on this ad?