Steinbuch v. Cutler Update

By Eric Goldman Steinbuch v. Cutler, 2006 WL 3060084 (D.D.C. Oct 30, 2006) Steinbuch v. Cutler has the attributes of a modern cyberlaw classic–it’s got sex, power, politics, blogs, and sex. You may recall the story. Jessica Cutler was an…

Sex.com — An Update

By Eric Goldman Judge Alex Kozinski recently guest lectured in my Cyberspace Law course, which prompted me to reread Kozinski’s opinion in the Kremen v. Cohen Sex.com case. Because that opinion came out in 2003, it made me curious–what’s happened…

NY v. DirectRevenue Hearing Transcript

By Eric Goldman I previously blogged on the New York v. DirectRevenue case and the amicus brief that David Post, Scott Christie and I filed. Last week, there was a hearing on DirectRevenue’s motion to dismiss. The transcript. Note that…

Courts Can’t Figure Out if Buying Keywords Constitutes Trademark Use–Buying for the Home v. Humble Abode

By Eric Goldman Buying for the Home, LLC v. Humble Abode, LLC, 03-CV-2783 (JAP) (D.N.J. Oct. 20, 2006) 2006 has been a bit of a jurisprudential disaster on the question of whether buying/selling keywords constitutes a trademark use in commerce….

Patent Policy in the Supreme Court and Congress–October 27, 2006

By Eric Goldman The High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of Law is co-sponsoring, with the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, a conference on Patent Policy in the Supreme Court and Congress. This event will bring…

Consumer Reviews May Lift E-Commerce Conversion

By Eric Goldman Judith Chevalier & Dina Mayzlin, The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews, Journal of Marketing Research, August 2006. [see a free earlier version from 2003] For a while, Epinions got into the “syndication”…

Acxiom Not Liable for Security Breach–Bell v. Acxiom

By Eric Goldman Bell v. Acxiom Corp., 4:06CV00485-WRW (E.D. Ark. Oct. 3, 2006) Acxiom is a major data miner/data broker. As a result, they have lots of sensitive personal data stored on their computers. Between 2001-2003, they suffered a major…

Google AdWords Contract Upheld–Person v. Google

By Eric Goldman Person v. Google Inc., 2006 WL 2884444 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 11, 2006) Carl Person is a candidate for New York’s Attorney General and an AdWords advertiser. He complains about a variety of Google’s AdWords’ policies, including its minimum…

One Judge’s Derisive View of Junk Faxes as Conversion

By Eric Goldman Rossario’s Fine Jewelry, Inc. v. Paddock Publications, Inc., 443 F. Supp. 2d 976 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 17, 2006). I’ve blogged before on courts’ rejection of a common law conversion claim based on the receipt of junk faxes….

Google Wins Lawsuit Over Search Results–Maughan v. Google

By Eric Goldman Maughan v. Google Technology, Inc., 2006 WL 2874791 (Cal. App. Ct. Oct 11, 2006) In 2004, Mark Maughan sued Google over the way that Google crafts the site description part of its search results. As the minority…