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October 14, 2008
September 2008 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman
eBay
* Universal Grading Service v. eBay, Inc. More fallout from the National Numismatic v. eBay case--another lawsuit alleging antitrust and defamation because eBay designated some coin rating services as preferred and impliedly devalued others.
* Windsor Auctions v. eBay has been refiled in a new jurisdiction.
* Mehmet v. Paypal, Inc., 2008 WL 3495541 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 12, 2008). Upholding the consequential damages waiver in PayPal’s user agreement.
* A company's failure in the marketplace can drive up the value of its collectibles on eBay.
* Stelor Productions, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 2008 WL 4218107 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 15, 2008). In the lawsuit alleging that Google causes reverse confusion of Googles.com [warning: annoying music ahead], the plaintiff doesn't get to depose Sergey or Larry yet. Rose Hagan, Google’s long-time chief trademark counsel, is the lucky substitute.
* Lots of rhetoric in the Google/Yahoo ad syndication deal. Google’s advocacy website. Google Chief Economist Hal Varian explains why the deal won’t raise ad prices in the auction. Randall Stross weighs in.
* Google has changed course and now allows religious groups to advertise on the keyword “abortion.”
* Kubit v. Google Groups, 2:2008cv00738 (M.D. Fla. complaint filed Sept. 29, 2008):
I then would like to sue Google Groups for not removing the posts when I repeatedly asked them to for 2 years. I believe I am entitled to at least a small amount of compensation for the emotional distress and lost business income that has resulted from them allowing these posts to remain on their Google Groups, even though I offered them VERY solid proof that I do not have HIV. If they had stopped the posts when they first occurred, they would not have proliferated to hundreds of websites. I became suicidal for a period of time after the posts started. I incurred a lot of emotional pain and fear because of the posts and had to seek psychiatric and psychological help to get my life back together. I still suffer from fears of dating, living a public business life and trusting others.
Yes, this is a pro se complaint. Yes, it is preempted by 47 USC 230.
Marketing/Advertising
* NebuAd is dead (1, 2). Even so, the lure of intermediaries aggregating deep data about consumers for commercial purposes will never die.
* Is Gator/Claria dead?
* The EU passed a non-binding resolution against sexual stereotypes in advertising.
* Celebrity branded merchandise run amok.
Miscellaneous
* Valleywag: "The 5 most laughable terms of service on the Net." For more laughs, see Mark Lemley’s Terms of Use paper.
* Murakowski v. University of Delaware, 2008 WL 4104087 (D. Del. Sept. 4, 2008). This reminded me a lot of the Jake Baker case from the mid-1990s.
* The Virginia Supreme Court reversed itself on the Jaynes anti-spam prosecution, and Jaynes walks. Does Virginia routinely pass unconstitutional laws?
* Becker v. Toca, 2008 WL 4443050 (E.D. La. Sept. 26, 2008). Ex-wife's alleged delivery of "Infostealer" program to grab passwords from ex-husband could violate the ECPA, SCA and CFAA.
* Interesting article on ESPN’s exclusive distribution and bundling agreements with Internet access providers.
* Silly? Horrifying? A sign of the apocalypse?
Posted by Eric at October 14, 2008 06:17 PM | Adware/Spyware , Content Regulation , Derivative Liability , E-Commerce , Internet History , Licensing/Contracts , Marketing , Privacy/Security , Search Engines , Spam
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