Facebook’s Proposed Amended Sponsored Settlement and Instagram’s TOS Revs
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Fraley v. Facebook, 11-cv-196193 (N.D. Cal.) (Amended Proposed Settlement) (Motion to Approve) (Preliminary Approval) (case docs, compiled by Citizen Media) I initially passed on blogging the amended proposed settlement agreement in Fraley v. Facebook, the Sponsored…
Employee/Ex-Employer Lawsuit Over Twitter Account Settles – Phonedog v. Kravitz
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] PhoneDog v. Kravitz, No. C 11-03474 MEJ (N.D. Cal.) This is one of the first cases where employee and employee (in this case contractor) battled over a Twitter account. Noah Kravitz worked for PhoneDog as a…
Employee Terminated for Facebook Message Fails to State Public Policy Claim — Barnett v. Aultman
Barnett v. Aultman Hosp., 11-CV-399 (N.D. Oh. Oct. 31, 2012) Barnett was a nurse at Aultman Hospital. She didn’t particularly get along with her supervisor, Lisa Summer. While Barnett was on vacation, she received word that Summer had been fired….
How Long Does a Post-Mortem Right of Publicity Last?–Hebrew University v. GM (Guest Blog Post)
by Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa The right of publicity is a state-law right to use one’s identity for a commercial purpose. Thus, if you want to use a celebrity’s name or image in an advertisement, you have to get his…
Texas Court of Appeals Rejects Privacy Claims Based on Facebook Firing – Roberts v. Careflite
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Roberts v. Careflite, 2012 Tex. App. LEXIS 8371 (Tex. Ct. App.; Oct. 4, 2012) This is a companion case to one Eric blogged about, Sumien v. Careflite. Both cases involve EMTs who were fired for making…
Battle Over LinkedIn Account Between Employer and Employee Largely Gutted–Eagle v. Morgan
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Eagle v. Morgan, 2012 WL 4739436 (E.D. Pa.; Oct. 4, 2012) We’ve repeatedly posted about employer-employee (or ex-employee) disputes involving social media accounts (PhoneDog; Maremont; Kremer; Insynq). Eagle v. Morgan is in…
Marilyn Monroe’s Image is Cast Into the Public Domain — Sort Of (Guest Blog Post)
by Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa [check out Prof. Ochoa’s casebook on publicity rights / affiliate link] In 2011, Marilyn Monroe was #3 on Forbes magazine’s annual list of top-earning dead celebrities, earning $27 million for her estate. Next year, however,…
Split 9th Circuit Panel Approves Facebook Beacon Settlement – Lane v. Facebook
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Lane v. Facebook, 10-16380 (9th Cir. Sept. 20, 2012) Facebook’s Beacon initiative has generated more than a few blog posts. Judge Seeborg approved the class settlement, over the objections of several objectors, including Ginger McCall. The…
Pointing Out Possible Hypocrisy by a Self-Claimed Sextortion Expert Protected by Anti-SLAPP Laws–Backlund v. Stone
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Backlund v. Stone, B235173 (Ca. Ct. App.; Sept. 4, 2012) When is it OK to tweet a threat to expose seminude photographs of a teenage girl? When you’re a law student? When you’re a self-professed expert…
Ongoing Website Editing Doesn’t Trump Single Publication Rule–Yeager v. Bowlin
By Eric Goldman Yeager v. Bowlin, No. 10-15297 (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2012) The single publication rule says that the statute of limitations starts with the first publication of the work, and so long as the work doesn’t change, further…