StubHub Can’t Beat Tax Collection Obligation Using 47 USC 230–Chicago v. StubHub

By Eric Goldman City of Chicago, Ill. v. StubHub!, Inc., 2010 WL 3768072 (7th Cir. Sept. 29, 2010) In my recent post about Milgram v. Orbitz, I wrote that “online tickets have become a major subfield of cyberlaw” and collected…

Deleted Facebook and MySpace Posts Are Discoverable–Romano v. Steelcase

By Eric Goldman, with additional comments from Venkat Romano v. Steelcase Inc., 2010 WL 3703242 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. Sept. 21, 2010). On my personal blog, I have repeatedly blogged about plaintiffs who tell one story in court only to have…

Washington Anti-Online Gambling Law Survives Dormant Commerce Clause Challenge — Rousso v. State

[Post by Venkat, with brief comments from Eric] Rousso v. Washington, Case No. 8040-1 (Wash. S.Ct. Sept. 23, 2010) Professor Goldman blogged recently about a case from the Washington state Supreme Court interpreting the state’s online gambling laws: “P2P Gambling…

New York Court Dismisses Putative Class Action Brought Under California Spam Statute — Bank v. Hydra Group, LLC

[Post by Venkat] Bank v.Hydra Group LLC, 10-CV-1770 (JG) (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 24, 2010) Todd Bank brought a putative spam class action against Hydra Group. The court dismissed the lawsuit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Bank alleged that he received…

Availability of Client Data on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google Sinks Trade Secrets Claim — Sasqua Group v. Courtney

[Post by Venkat with a brief comment from Eric] Sasqua Group, Inc. v. Courtney, 2010 WL 3613855 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 2, 2010) Background: Sasqua Group and its principal (Tors) ran a executive search consulting firm for professionals in the financial services…

Georgia Pacific’s Effort to Control Towel Dispenser Refills Fails in 8th Circuit–Georgia Pacific v. Myers Supply (Guest Blog Post)

Georgia Pacific Consumer Products LP v. Myers Supply, Inc., 2010 WL 3564834 (8th Cir. Sept. 15, 2010) By guest blogger Mark Bartholomew After a decision by the Fourth Circuit seemed to open the door for businesses to use contributory trademark…

Reunion.com Back to District Court — Hoang et al v. Reunion.com Inc

[Post by Venkat] Hoang et al v. Reunion.com Inc., Case No. 08-cv-03518-MMC (N.D. Cal.) Reunion.com is a spam case that’s generated some blog fodder, to say the least: “CAN-Spam-a-Friend?–Hoang v. Reunion.com,” “Reunion.com Revisited,” and “Reunion.com Revisited Again: Claims Under CA…

Anti-Scraping Lawsuit Largely Gutted–Cvent v. Eventbrite

By Eric Goldman Cvent, Inc. v. Eventbrite, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96354 (E.D. Va. Sept. 14, 2010). Given the amount of scraping taking place every day all over the web, scraping lawsuits are surprisingly infrequent. In this ruling, a…

Fifth Circuit Blesses Vistaprint’s Rewards Program Sign-Up Process — Bott v. Vistaprint USA Inc.

[Post by Venkat] Bott v. Vistaprint USA Inc., No. 09-20648 (5th Cir.; Aug. 23, 2010). I recently blogged about an online rewards program class action which survived a motion to dismiss. (In re: Easysaver Rewards Litigation: “Internet Rewards Program Class…

Software Vendor Trumps First Sale Doctrine via License–Vernor v. Autodesk

[Post by Venkat, with some comments from Eric below] Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc., Case No. 09-35969 (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2010) [pdf]. The Ninth Circuit last week issued an opinion in one of the two cases addressing whether a transaction…