H1 2012 Quick Links, Part 2 (Copyright)
By Eric Goldman * The scandal continues: Techdirt reports the Dajaz1 seizure was held up for months because the government was waiting for the RIAA to provide supporting evidence that never materialized. Wait, ICE seized an asset (that is used…
H1 2012 Quick Links, Part 1 (Trademarks/Domain Names, Patents, Trade Secrets, IP)
By Eric Goldman [Eric’s note: I had an incredibly busy travel schedule since late March. My destinations included Akron, NYC, Seattle, Concord (NH), Boston, Chicago, Vancouver, the California Channel Islands (a blog post is coming later this week about that…
Angie’s List’s Telephone and Fax Information Services May Be Immunized by Section 230–Courtney v. Vereb
By Eric Goldman Courtney v. Vereb, 2012 WL 2405313 (E.D. La. June 25, 2012) Courtney and Vereb are both psychiatric professionals. Vereb posted allegedly defamatory comments about Courtney to Angie’s List in 2009. Courtney says he discovered the comments in…
Can Korean Copyright Owners Sue Australian Defendants in California? Judges Disagree–DFSB Kollective v. Bourne
By Eric Goldman DFSB Kollective Co. Ltd. v. Bourne, 2012 WL 2376209 (N.D. Cal. June 22, 2012). DFSB Kollective is a Korea-based copyright owner and a leading producer of Korean music. It went on a litigation tear on March 7,…
Will the Floodgates Open Up for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Claims Against Websites?–National Association of the Deaf v. Netflix
By Eric Goldman National Association of the Deaf v. Netflix, Inc., 3:11-cv-30168-MAP (D. Mass. June 19, 2012) This is a bad ruling. Really terrible. It’s the kind of results-oriented judicial activism that undermines the public’s trust in the judiciary. The…
Wisconsin Appeals Court Punts on the Legality of Buying People’s Names for Keyword Advertising–Habush v. Cannon
By Eric Goldman Habush v. Cannon, 2012 WL 2345137 (Wis. App. Ct. June 21, 2012). The case record. My prior blog post on this case. You may recall this case. Habush Habush & Rottier and Cannon & Dunphy are both…
Mortuary Student Can Be Disciplined for Facebook Posts–Tatro v. University of Minnesota
By Eric Goldman Tatro v. University of Minnesota, 2012 WL 2328002 (Minn. June 20, 2012). My prior blog post on the appellate court ruling in this case. This is one of the many lawsuits over a school disciplining a student…
Another Failed Effort to Remove a Ripoff Report Posting–Karnaby v. Mckenzie
By Eric Goldman Karnaby v. Mckenzie, 2012 WL 2149457 (Conn. Super. Ct. May 10, 2012) [Jan. 2018 UPDATE: In an unusual development, in Jan. 2018, Ripoff Report redacted its report after Karnaby successfully arbitrated through Ripoff Report’s private arbitration option….
Another Bad Ruling for PissedConsumer on Trademark and 47 USC 230 Claims–Amerigas v. Opinion Corp.
By Eric Goldman Amerigas Propane, LP v. Opinion Corp., 2012 WL 2327788 (E.D. Pa. June 19, 2012) You may recall PissedConsumer, the site that solicits user gripes, SEOs the crud out of them, and then offers the griped business pay-to-play…
CYBERsitter Sues Google for AdWords Trademark Infringement
By Eric Goldman CYBERsitter LLC v. Google, Inc., CV12-5293 (C.D. Cal. complaint filed June 18, 2012) CYBERsitter competes with Net Nanny and ContentWatch (apparently both owned by the same entity, ContentWatch) in the Internet filtering software niche. CYBERsitter claims ContentWatch…