New Anti-Libel Tourism Act (HR 2765) Extends 47 USC 230 to Foreign Judgments
By Eric Goldman President Obama signed HR 2765, the “SPEECH Act,” into law, codified at 28 USC Secs. 4101-4105. The act prohibits US courts from enforcing foreign defamation judgments unless (1) the judgment would satisfy First Amendment or similar state…
July 2010 Quick Links, Part 1 (IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman Trademarks * Rebelution, LLC v. Perez, 2010 WL 3036217 (N.D. Cal. July 30, 2010). The plaintiff is a band named Rebelution. The defendant is a music performer named Pitbull who released an album “Pitbull Starring in Rebelution”…
Google Liberalizes Its European Trademark Policy
By Eric Goldman After the ECJ’s favorable opinion in the Google cases, I’ve been wondering if Google would liberalize its trademark policy in Europe. It took Google 4 months to parse the ECJ’s inscrutable opinion and make a call, but…
Web Host Gets Easy 47 USC 230 Win in Catfight–Johnson v. Arden
By Eric Goldman Johnson v. Arden, 2010 WL 3023660 (8th Cir. August 4, 2010). The CMLP page with lots of source materials. I’ve been looking at over-the-top cute kitty pictures all morning. Just try to suppress the “aahs” on a…
Google Gets Complete Win in Rosetta Stone Case
By Eric Goldman Rosetta Stone Ltd. v. Google Inc., 1:09-cv-00736-GBL-TCB (E.D. Va.). Opinion granting Google’s motion to dismiss filed August 3, 2010, 2010 WL 3063152. Order granting Google’s motion to dismiss the unjust enrichment claim filed August 2, 2010, 2010…
Ripoff Report Defeats Extortion Claim, But Plaintiffs Keep Trying–AEI v. Xcentric
By Eric Goldman Asia Economic Institute v. Xcentric Ventures LLC, 2:10-cv-01360-SVW-PJW (C.D. Cal. July 19, 2010). First Amended Complaint filed July 27, 2010. I’ve lost track of the different techniques plaintiffs have tried to bypass 47 USC 230 and hold…
Google Protected by 17 USC 512(d) for Links to Infringing Content; Perfect 10’s Takedown Notices Were Mostly Insufficient
By Eric Goldman Perfect 10, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 2:04-cv-09484-AHM-SH (C.D. Cal. July 26, 2010) In 2007, the Ninth Circuit issued an important but befuddling ruling in Perfect 10 v. Amazon and Google. That ruling addressed Perfect 10’s prima facie…
Internet Law Syllabus and Reader for Fall 2010
By Eric Goldman I have posted my syllabus for this semester’s Internet Law course, my 16th year teaching the course. This blog post describes some of the latest developments with the class, including the changes from my 2009 course reader….
Yet Another TM Owner Gives Up Against Google–Ezzo v. Google
By Eric Goldman Jamil Ezzo has apparently given up his lawsuit against Google over AdWords. The dismissal. This was a silly lawsuit that never should have been brought (it was over the purported trademark “Locate Plastic Surgeon” for gosh sakes),…
Private Facebook Group’s Conversations Aren’t Defamatory–Finkel v. Dauber
By Eric Goldman Finkel v. Dauber, 2010 WL 2872874 (NY Sup. Ct. July 22, 2010) I previously blogged about this case last year. The case involves a private Facebook group comprised of 6 high school students apparently mocking and criticizing…