Franchisor Really, Really Unhappy With Franchisee’s Co-Promotion With a Topless Bar–Capriotti’s v Taylor
By Eric Goldman Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, Inc. v. Taylor Family Holdings, Inc., 2012 WL 1448514 (D. Del. April 25, 2012). The complaint and exhibits A-D, E-H and I-O. Some background. Capriotti’s is a franchised fast-food sandwich chain, with its signature…
New Essay: The Irony of Privacy Class Action Lawsuits
By Eric Goldman I’ve posted a new essay to SSRN titled The Irony of Privacy Class Action Lawsuits. It should be published later this year in the Journal of Telecommunications and High Technology Law at University of Colorado. The essay…
Comments on the Megaupload Prosecution (a Long-Delayed Linkwrap)
By Eric Goldman [I’ve been working on this linkwrap for 3 months. Linkwraps rarely improve with age. At this point, it’s not even clear the US government has a case due to its repeated gaffes. Nevertheless, I’ve decided to post…
512(f) Plaintiff Can’t Get Discovery to Back Up His Allegations of Bogus Takedowns–Ouellette v. Viacom
By Eric Goldman Ouellette v. Viacom Intern., Inc., 2012 WL 1435703 (D. Mont. April 25, 2012) Ouellette sued Viacom for sending allegedly bogus takedown notices for videos he posted to YouTube. His case has gone nowhere. In 2011, his ADA…
MySpace Profile and Friends List May Be Trade Secrets (?)–Christou v. Beatport
By Eric Goldman Christou v. Beatport, LLC, 2012 WL 872574 (D. Colo. March 14, 2012). The complaint. The Justia page. [I’ve mentioned before that sometimes blog posts get stuck. This is one of those posts. I initially drafted the post…
Internet Intermediary Law Slides from Stanford Guest Lecture
By Eric Goldman I recently guest-lectured at an Internet Law course at Stanford, run by Jennifer Granick and Richard Salgado. My slides. Jennifer asked me to cover 47 USC 230 and 17 USC 512 in a single session. I know…
SuperPoke! Pets Virtual Gold Dispute Worth Over $5 Million–Abreu v. Slide
By Eric Goldman Abreu v. Slide, Inc., 2012 WL 1123367 (N.D. Cal. April 3, 2012). The Justia page. Google bought Slide, which operated the SuperPoke! Pets online game. Wikipedia has some of the game’s history. As part of the gameplay,…
Cautionary Tale for Settling Trademark Cases–Tormented Souls v. Tormented Souls Motorcycle Club
By Eric Goldman Tormented Souls Inc. v. Tormented Souls Motorcycle Club Inc., 2012 WL 1314128 (E.D.N.Y. April 17, 2012) The parties settled a trademark litigation. The settlement agreement required the defendants to “take all the steps necessary to remove all…
Facebook Beats Class Certification in Click Fraud Case
By Eric Goldman In re Facebook, Inc., PPC Advertising Litigation, 2012 WL 1253182 (N.D.Cal. April 13, 2012) I don’t know what I like less: click fraud, or bogus lawsuits over click fraud. This three-year-old case (see my initial blog post…
Texas Ruling Shows the Benefits We’d Get From a Federal Anti-SLAPP Law–American Heritage Capital v. Gonzalez
By Eric Goldman American Heritage Capital, LP v. Dinah Gonzalez and Alan Gonzalez, No. DC-11-13741-C (Texas District Court April 13, 2012). The amended complaint. The defendant’s anti-SLAPP motion. This may be the first application of Texas’ new anti-SLAPP law to…