An End to Spam Litigation Factories?–Gordon v. Virtumundo

By Eric Goldman Gordon v. Virtumundo, Inc., No. 07-35487 (9th Cir. Aug. 6, 2009) When CAN-SPAM was passed in 2003, it was fairly clear that Congress wasn’t trying to enable broad private enforcement. Everyone knew that rabid anti-spammers would seize…

State of the Net West Recap

By Eric Goldman Yesterday, the High Tech Law Institute and the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus co-sponsored the Third Annual State of the Net West event at Santa Clara University. The featured participants were 3 members of Congress…

Wikipedia and Rules Proliferation

By Eric Goldman I have previously mentioned how rule sets tend to expand over time. We’ve seen this with legislation; for example, consider how the Copyright Act has grown over time. Personally, I’ve seen code expansion over and over again…

Google Goes on Offensive in AdWords Trademark Lawsuit–Google v. John Beck Amazing Profits

By Eric Goldman Google, Inc v. John Beck Amazing Profits, LLC, C09 03459 (N.D. Cal. complaint filed July 27, 2009). [Warning: 1.4MB file] The Justia page. A couple of interesting developments in John Beck Amazing Profits v. Google, the putative…