Independent Contractor Relationship Between Sender and Advertiser Dooms Spam Claims – Kramer v. NCS
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Kramer v. NCS, 12-1956 (8th Cir. May 28, 2013) Kramer, who operated an internet service provider in Clinton, Iowa, filed an ambitious–and as it turned out, ultimately quixotic–lawsuit over spam emails. He initially sued 300 unnamed…
Craigslist’s Anti-Consumer Lawsuit Threatens to Break Internet Law–Craigslist v. 3Taps/Padmapper (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Craigslist, Inc. v. 3Taps, Inc., 2013 WL 1819999 (N.D. Cal. April 30, 2013) Craigslist is one of the best examples of the Internet’s sharing economy. Craigslist improves markets by helping buyers and sellers find each other. Remarkably, it…
Nosal Convicted of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Crime Despite His Ninth Circuit Win – US v. Nosal
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with a comment from Eric] US v. Nosal, CR 08-0237 EMC (N.D. Cal. Mar. 12, 2013) (.pdf, denying motion to dismiss) US v. Nosal, a case that spawned two Ninth Circuit opinions and that’s sure to…
Online Trespass to Chattels Needs Structural Reform (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman In light of Aaron Swartz’s tragic suicide, there has been a lot of discussion–some productive, some not–about reforming the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (the “CFAA”). I support some of the reform proposals, but they don’t go…
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…
Anti-Scraping Lawsuits Are Going Crazy in the Real Estate Industry (Catch-Up Post)
By Jake McGowan with comments from Eric [Eric’s preliminary note: it’s taken me weeks to review this blog post, so I’ve been keeping poor Jake in a holding pattern. Still, I hope the wait is worth it.] The real estate…
Class Action Against Path Over Cellphone Address Book Access Keeps Going — Hernandez v. Path
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment from Eric] Hernandez v. Path, Inc., 2012 WL 5194120 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 17, 2012) This is another lawsuit alleging that apps improperly accessed address book and contact information on mobile devices. The related…
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…
Craigslist’s Latest Moves Show It Cares More About Its Market Position Than Delivering Value to Its Users (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Craigslist is resorting to increasingly desperate measures to control its users’ classified ad listings. Last month, Craigslist sued 3Taps and Padmapper for scraping and repackaging its classified ads. Since then, it has extracted greater IP rights from its…
Ex-Employee’s Access/Misuse of Employer Files States CFAA Claim — Weingand v. Harland Financial
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] Weingand v. Harland Financial Solutions, C 11 3109 EMC (N.D. Cal.; June 19, 2012) Weingand involves claims brought by an employee, and proposed counterclaims brought by the employer against the employee. Nor…