Buying Keyword Ads on People’s Names Doesn’t Violate Their Publicity Rights–Habush v. Cannon (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Habush v. Cannon, 2013 WL 627251 (Wisc. App. Ct. Feb. 21, 2013) Can you imagine someone buying Google ($GOOG) AdWords keyword advertising triggered by your name? Most of us wouldn’t dream of it, usually because our names just…
Lindsay Lohan Loses Publicity Rights Claim Against Pitbull Over Song Lyrics–Lohan v. Perez
By Jake McGowan [writings][LinkedIn] Lohan v. Perez, No. 11-CV-5413 (E.D.N.Y. 2013) Lindsay Lohan just can’t catch a break. In 2007, after a string of unsuccessful movies and a long battle with substance abuse, Lohan found herself on probation for two…
Another Employee Behaves Badly on Social Media. Really, You “Can’t Make This Up.” — In re Palleschi
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment from Eric] Palleschi v. Cassano, 2013 WL 322573 (N.Y. App. Div. Jan. 29, 2013). The trial court decision. Someone calls 911 complaining of a “gynecological emergency.” A fire dept. employee, an emergency medical…
Virginia Supreme Court: Litigant Who “Cleans up” His Facebook Page May Be Sanctioned
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Allied Concrete v. Lester, 2013 Va. LEXIS 8 (Jan. 10, 2013) This case generated some attention at the trial court phase, but for whatever reason I didn’t have a chance to blog it. Lester and his…
Top Ten Internet Law Developments of 2012 (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman I’m pleased to share my list of top 10 developments of 2012: #10: The Push Towards Anti-Class Action Arbitration Clauses. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion that businesses may be able to adopt mandatory…
Let’s Stop Using the Term “Soft IP”
By Eric Goldman You may have heard–or even used–the phrase “soft IP.” I’m not a fan of it, and I think we should retire the term. The term “soft IP” is inherently ambiguous. Sometimes, people use “soft IP” to refer…
Privacy Plaintiffs in Deep Packet Inspection Case Get No Love From the Tenth Circuit — Kirch v. Embarq Managmenet
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Kirch v. Embarq Management, No. 11-3275 (10th Cir. Dec. 28, 2012) This is an appeal from one of the many lawsuits against IAPs for implementing the ill-fated NebuAd “deep packet inspection” system. Here’s my post on…
Section 230 Still Keeping the Pro Se Plaintiffs at Bay–Klayman v. Facebook, and More
By Eric Goldman I’m personally committed to blogging every Section 230 case I see, but I fell off the wagon in the second half of 2012. So what better way to usher out 2012 and ring in the new year…
Google’s Privacy Policy Integration Initially Defeats Legal Challenge — In re Google Privacy Policy Litigation
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] In re Google, Inc. Privacy Policy Litigation, C 12-01382 PSG (N.D. Cal.; Dec. 28, 2012) In a decision that should be closely watched by the Instagram plaintiffs who are complaining about Instagram’s…
Lawsuit Against Instagram Over Terms of Service Changes Looks Flimsy — Funes v. Instagram
[Venkat Balasubramani with a comment by Eric] Funes v. Instagram, 12-6482 (N.D. Cal. complaint filed Dec. 21, 2012) Eric and I posted about Instagram’s recent TOS rev. Neither of us were particularly enthusiastic about the changes. (See Facebook’s Proposed Amended…