Virginia v. Jaynes – This Time Really is The End
by Ethan Ackerman The US Supreme Court has declined to grant a petition for certiorari filed by Virginia’s Attorney General in Virginia v. Jaynes. That denial means the Virginia state Supreme Court’s holding is the final say in the Jaynes…
The [Non]enforceability of Privacy Promises–Pinero v. Jackson Hewitt
A recent court case reiterates that privacy policies aren’t the be-all, end-all panacea for protecting online privacy. By Ethan Ackerman One of the main arguments against a federal online privacy law has been that website privacy policies were a self-regulatory…
Reunion.com Revisited
Following in the expected path of her earlier ruling, District Judge Maxine Chesney again dismissed an anti-spam lawsuit against Reunion.com. This time, the Judge also threw in a tenuous constitutional holding for good measure. Count this ruling as yet another…
Just who is an Internet access service provider under CAN-SPAM?
Worded to prevent lawsuits by individual email recipients, the federal CAN-SPAM Act limits who can bring suit for a CAN-SPAM violation. In addition to state and federal enforcers, the Act allows suits by “Internet access service providers.” Just who are…
CAN-Spam-a-Friend?–Hoang v. Reunion.com
Hoang v. Reunion.com sidesteps an eagerly anticipated legal dispute over the legality of commercial address book scraping and ‘send-to-a-friend’ emails, and also highlights the damage that can cascade when a federal Circuit Court woefully misreads a statute. By Ethan Ackerman…
Licensing a Work, and When Licensing Doesn’t Work–Reuters v. GMU
A timely Exhibit A in the argument that contract law is being used as a back-door wedge in expanding copyright. By Ethan Ackerman Just as Bruce Boyden seriously asks, “is the case for contracts somehow expanding copyright rights vastly overstated?”…
Fair Use – It’s the Law (for what it’s worth)–Lenz v. Universal
DMCA notice & takedown provisions upheld in Lenz v. Universal By Ethan Ackerman A recent ruling in Lenz v. Universal shows just how far being right about something can get you – barely past a motion to dismiss. It just…
Still Not Copyright: Para-Copyright Revisited–Blueport v. US
Another friendly reminder that not everything related to copyright is copyright. By Ethan Ackerman The Copyright Act is a curious critter. Litigants seem to keep finding ways to get unexpectedly drawn into it when they don’t want to and ways…
When breaking news breaks copyright
Community blog Drudge Retort receives DMCA notices from the Associated Press for links, quotes. by Ethan Ackerman Rogers Cadenhead is a blogger. A prolific one in fact, with a personal blog and the role of editorial director at the commenter-driven…
Rights in Copies vs. Copyright
Prince’s entanglement with Radiohead, YouTube, and a video bootlegger leads to much debate over just what’s in copyright law and a YouTube nightmare scenario. By Ethan Ackerman Copyright bloggers were privileged to a few laughs recently when Prince’s music label,…