By Eric Goldman Federal Trade Commission v. Neovi, Inc., 09-55093 (9th Cir. May 14, 2010) Qchex allowed registered users to create and send checks via a website. Initially, users could submit bank account information and payee information, and Qchex would...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on May 17, 2010 01:55 PM
By Eric Goldman Milo v. Martin, 2010 WL 1708895 (Tex. App. Ct. April 29, 2010) This case involves allegedly defamatory "guestbook" messages posted by unknown users to a website entitled "The Watchdog." Framed like that, the precedent says the website...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on April 30, 2010 11:09 AM
By Eric Goldman Doctor's Associates, Inc. v. QIP Holders LLC, 2010 WL 669870 (D. Conn. Feb. 19, 2010). My prior post on this case. As a long-time vegetarian (over a quarter-century), I find America's obsession with "more meat" competitions simultaneously...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on March 8, 2010 07:16 AM
By Eric Goldman Phan v. Pham, 2010 WL 658244 (Cal. App. Ct. Feb. 25, 2010) This is the first 230 case I'm blogging about in 2010 (see my 2009 recap), and what a nice ruling to start the year. The...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on February 26, 2010 11:56 AM
By Eric Goldman Alex Kozinski & Josh Goldfoot, A Declaration of the Dependence of Cyberspace, 32 Colum. J.L. & Arts 365 (2009). Introduction In early 1996, in response to Congress' enactment of the Communications Decency Act (the first comprehensive attempt...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on February 16, 2010 01:40 PM
By Eric Goldman Guest blogger John Ottaviani recently dropped by to offer his perspectives on 2009’s top Cyberlaw developments. While I like his list a lot, I independently developed my own top 10 list that has a different emphasis. You...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on January 11, 2010 10:46 AM
By Eric Goldman I will do a more comprehensive year in review for Cyberlaw generally, but I thought it would be fun to take a close look at how 47 USC 230 fared in 2009. This is the first full...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on January 5, 2010 11:45 AM
By Eric Goldman Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., v. Fung, 2:06-cv-05578-SVW-JC (C.D. Cal. Dec. 21, 2009) In a potentially significant ruling that got a little lost in the Christmas rush, a federal district court ruled on summary judgment that the “torrent...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on December 30, 2009 09:41 AM
By Eric Goldman Nemet Chevrolet Ltd. v. ConsumerAffairs.com, Inc., 2009 WL 5126224 (4th Cir. Dec. 29, 2009) Introduction Citing 47 USC 230, today the Fourth Circuit upheld a 12(b)(6) dismissal of defamation and related claims against a consumer review website....
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on December 29, 2009 02:53 PM
By Eric Goldman Shiamili v. Real Estate Group of New York, Inc., 2009 WL 4842470 (N.Y. App. Div. Dec. 17, 2009) Unfortunately, I am only working from a short and opaque appellate memo. It appears that the defendant operated a...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on December 21, 2009 09:18 AM
By Eric Goldman Dart v. Craigslist, Inc., 09 C 1385 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 20, 2009) Yesterday, Judge John F. Grady of the Northern District of Illinois federal court dismissed Cook County Sheriff Dart's lawsuit against Craigslist for user-posted advertisements in...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on October 21, 2009 01:13 PM
By Eric Goldman In reading the FTC's new rules on endorsements and testimonials in advertisements, I was struck by the FTC's expansive vision of advertiser liability for third party-caused violations. In particular, the FTC apparently has made the same analytical...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on October 6, 2009 10:04 AM
By Eric Goldman Goddard v. Google, Inc., 5:08-cv-02738-JF (N.D. Cal. July 30, 2009) I previously blogged on this case in December 2008. The case involves AdWords advertisements for allegedly fraudulent mobile subscription services. In an underappreciated opinion, Judge Fogel wrote...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on July 31, 2009 10:59 AM
By Eric Goldman State Regulation of the Internet * iAWFUL, the Internet Advocates Watchlist for Ugly Laws * Texas HB 2003. Part of the anti-cyber-harassment mania. Very broad statute with lots of room for prosecutorial mischief. * BNA (BNA subscription...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on July 7, 2009 09:18 PM
By Eric Goldman Doe II v. MySpace, Inc., 2009 WL 1862779 (Cal. App. Ct. June 30, 2009) Capping off a busy month for 47 USC 230 jurisprudence, MySpace has won another case over its role in facilitating sexual assaults of...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on July 1, 2009 11:17 AM
By Eric Goldman F.T.C. v. Accusearch Inc., 2009 WL 1846344 (10th Cir. June 29, 2009). My blog post on the district court opinion. Introduction June has been an active month for 230 jurisprudence. Cases this month include Doe IX v....
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on June 30, 2009 10:28 AM
By Eric Goldman Zango, Inc. v. Kaspersky Lab, Inc., 2009 WL 1796746 (9th Cir. June 25, 2009) The case involves Kaspersky, an anti-spyware software vendor, and Zango, the former purveyor of adware (I say "former" because Zango shut down a...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on June 26, 2009 01:13 PM
By Eric Goldman Last week I made a very short presentation on 47 USC 230 and consumer protection at the ABA Antitrust Section’s Consumer Protection Conference. (I was scheduled for 6 minutes, but I think I took about 8). My...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on June 24, 2009 10:08 AM
By Eric Goldman Barnes v. Yahoo, Inc., 05-36189 (9th Cir. Amended Opinion June 22, 2009) The Ninth Circuit has issued an amended opinion in last month's Barnes v. Yahoo opinion. The amended opinion makes two changes to the initial opinion,...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on June 22, 2009 11:57 AM
By Eric Goldman Doe IX v. MySpace, Inc., 2009 WL 1457170 (E.D. Tex. May 22, 2009). The Justia page. This is yet another lawsuit involving an underage sexual assault where MySpace mediated some communications between abuser and victim. The flagship...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on June 1, 2009 11:11 AM
By Eric Goldman Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., 2009 WL 1232367 (9th Cir. May 7, 2009). My 2005 blog post on the lower court ruling. Reading Barnes v. Yahoo, I had an overpowering sense of deja vu. Almost precisely 2 years...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on May 13, 2009 08:04 PM
By Eric Goldman Even though both of these cases are a little dated, they both just showed up in Westlaw in the past couple weeks. Their juxtaposition, plus the recent Woodhull case, suggests a mini-trend against 230. NPS LLC v....
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on April 29, 2009 12:34 PM
By Eric Goldman Atlantic Recording Corp. v. Project Playlist, Inc., 2009 WL 766224 (S.D.N.Y. March 25, 2009). The Justia page. This ruling addresses one of the known "circuit splits" in 47 USC 230 jurisprudence: does 230 preempt state IP claims...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on April 17, 2009 08:45 AM
By Eric Goldman Joyner v. Lazzareschi, 2009 WL 695539 (Cal. App. Ct. March 18, 2009) Joyner is a Southern California soccer coach who merged two girls soccer teams into one, a decision that sparked a near-riot in the local girls...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on March 23, 2009 09:38 AM
By Eric Goldman Last week, I gave a talk at a meeting of the IEEE Communications Society, Santa Clara Valley chapter. I don't often get the chance to speak to a group of engineers, so I decided to go in...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on March 19, 2009 10:25 AM
By Eric Goldman Certain Approval Program v. Xcentric Certain Approval Programs, L.L.C. v. XCentric Ventures L.L.C., 2009 WL 596582 (D. Ariz. March 9, 2009). I previously blogged about this case in November. This ruling is in response to the plaintiff's...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on March 12, 2009 11:54 AM
By Eric Goldman Dart v. Craigslist, Inc., 09-CV-1385 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed March 5, 2009) Dart, the Cook County, Illinois sheriff, has sued Craigslist in federal court for creating a "public nuisance" because its "Erotic Services" category facilitates prostitution. Unfortunately...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on March 5, 2009 01:45 PM
By Eric Goldman Woodhull v. Meinel, 2008 WL 5663874 (N.M. App. Ct. Oct. 24, 2008). This one just showed up in my Westlaw alerts; not sure why it took so long. The NM Supreme Court denied cert Jan. 7, 2009....
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on February 27, 2009 11:26 AM
By Eric Goldman The Ninth Circuit has posted the audio of the February 2, 2009 oral arguments in Zango v. Kaspersky, the important 47 USC 230(c)(2) case about vendors' abilities to classify third party content as spam, viruses, adware/spyware, etc....
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on February 24, 2009 05:44 PM
By Eric Goldman It's a sign of my schedule that I'm just now getting to this, and this post will be more pithy than I initially conceived. This post recaps some of the Cyberlaw highlights from last year. Frankly, the...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on February 6, 2009 05:50 PM
By Eric Goldman GW Equity LLC v. Xcentric Ventures LLC, 2009 WL 62173 (N.D.Tex. Jan. 9, 2009) I previously blogged about this case in October when the magistrate judge issued his report and recommendations finding that Rip-off Report was immune...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on January 19, 2009 07:56 AM
By Eric Goldman Goddard v. Google, Inc., 2008 WL 5245490 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 17, 2008). My initial post when the complaint was filed. The Justia page. Goddard sued Google because Google displayed third party AdWords ads for allegedly fraudulent mobile...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on December 22, 2008 07:48 AM
By Eric Goldman Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommate.com, LLC, CV 03-9386 PA (RZx) (C.D. Cal. Nov. 7, 2008). Nov. 19 stipulation. The Ninth Circuit en banc ruling in the Roommates.com remains one of the most noteworthy...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on November 28, 2008 07:56 AM
By Eric Goldman I'm thinking about renaming this blog the "Rip-off Report Blog." After all, I blog about them frequently, and there seems to be a never-ending supply of new legal developments. Plus, I know readers are interested in them...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on November 10, 2008 09:09 PM
By Eric Goldman In August, I blogged about the SEC's most recent guidance regarding companies' liability for linking to third party content. Today, I submitted comments to the SEC pointing out that their general position regarding linking contravenes 47 USC...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on November 5, 2008 08:58 PM
By Eric Goldman Best Western International, Inc. v. Furber, 2008 WL 4182827 (D. Ariz. Sept. 5, 2008). The CMLP page. In my Co-Blogging paper, I wrote about my uncertainty whether co-bloggers would be able to claim 47 USC 230 for...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on September 24, 2008 10:03 PM
By Eric Goldman Earlier this month, the High Tech Law Institute co-sponsored "State of the Net West," an event designed to facilitate a conversation between DC policy makers and Silicon Valley technology folks. We had a terrific turnout (especially given...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on August 19, 2008 06:10 PM
By Eric Goldman I've posted my latest Cyberspace Law course syllabus. Some changes from last year: * added an August 2007 Search Engine Land article by Chris Silver Smith on geolocation technologies and their efficacy. * added California Penal Code...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on August 14, 2008 08:15 AM
By Eric Goldman Zango has filed its reply brief in Zango v. Kaspersky [warning: 3+ MB file]. Some points that caught my attention: * the brief starts out by quoting one of Kozinski's unfortunate rhetorical detours in Roommates.com that 230...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on May 20, 2008 06:46 AM
By Eric Goldman Doe v. MySpace Inc., 2008 WL 2068064 (5th Cir. May 16, 2008) 2008 has been a tough year for 47 USC 230. The immunization is still robust, but this year we've seen significant plaintiff opportunities created by...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on May 17, 2008 08:32 AM
By Eric Goldman 47 USC 230 cases have been coming at such a rapid clip that I've fallen behind. In this blog post, I'll catch up on three recent cases: Friendfinder Doe v. Friendfinder Network, Inc., 2008 WL 803947 (D.N.H....
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on April 28, 2008 10:27 AM
By Eric Goldman Last Friday, the High Tech Law Institute and the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology co-sponsored the Law & Business of Online Advertising conference. We had first-rate panelists and an enthusiastic audience of over 100 attendees. Rebecca...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on April 23, 2008 09:06 AM
By Eric Goldman It's a sign of my busy March/April that I am just now posting these... Reputation/47 USC 230 * I have a lot to say about the JuicyCampus story (AP, MSNBC, Chronicle of Higher Education). Unfortunately, I ran...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on April 21, 2008 08:32 AM
By Eric Goldman Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates.com, LLC, 2008 WL 879293 (9th Cir. April 3, 2008) The Ninth Circuit has issued its en banc ruling in the Fair Housing Councils v. Roommates.com case upholding the...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on April 3, 2008 08:05 PM
By Eric Goldman Hot news! The Ninth Circuit en banc panel in the Roommates.com case upheld the 3 judge panel and issued an opinion, not surprisingly written by Judge Kozinski, saying that Roommates.com doesn't qualify for immunity under 47 USC...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on April 3, 2008 10:02 AM
By Eric Goldman Today I gave a talk on recent 47 USC 230 developments (following on the popular "47 USC 230 Week" at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog a couple of weeks ago). I didn't even really get into...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on April 1, 2008 08:44 PM
By Eric Goldman Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law v. Craigslist, Inc., 2008 WL 681168 (7th Cir. March 14, 2008) Yesterday, I declared this week "47 USC 230 Week" at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog. The Seventh...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on March 14, 2008 12:17 PM
By Eric Goldman Today is 47 USC 230 Day at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog as we catch up on a hat trick of recent 47 USC 230 opinions. 1) Gregerson v. Vilana Financial, Inc., 2008 WL 451060 (D....
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on March 10, 2008 09:49 AM
By Eric Goldman Whitney Information Network v. Xcentric Ventures, No. 2:04-cv-47-FtM-34SPC (M.D. Fla. Feb. 15, 2008) On remand from the 11th Circuit, the district court once again found that 47 USC 230 protects Rip-off Report and related entities from a...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on February 18, 2008 10:28 AM
By Eric Goldman Howard Bashman provides some useful updates on the Roommates.com case. First, the Ninth Circuit has rejected the amicus brief filed by Amazon.com and numerous other Internet companies because, according to Bashman, the amicus brief would have created...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on December 14, 2007 08:00 AM
By Eric Goldman Amici curiae briefs were filed in the Ninth Circuit Roommates.com appeal by: * a variety of Internet companies such as Google, eBay and Amazon plus non-profit organizations such as the EFF * various news organizations * the...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on November 19, 2007 03:28 PM
By Eric Goldman Children of America, Inc. v. Magedson, CV 2007-003720 (Arizona Superior Ct. Oct. 24, 2007) In a ruling reminiscent of Hy Cite v. badbusinessbureau, an Arizona trial court dismissed a plaintiff's defamation claims against Ripoff Report based on...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on November 6, 2007 10:14 PM
By Eric Goldman Now that the Roommates.com case is pending en banc, let the games begin! The first round: the Fair Housing Councils want to submit a brief arguing why the Ninth Circuit Batzel precedent should be overturned in light...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on October 30, 2007 05:45 PM
By Eric Goldman Terrific news from the Ninth Circuit this morning! They have granted an en banc hearing in the Fair Housing Council v. Roommates.com case and (as their rules require) designated the prior opinion non-precedential. The full text of...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on October 12, 2007 10:16 AM
By Eric Goldman Global Royalties, Ltd. v. Xcentric Ventures, LLC, 07-956-PHX-FJM (D. Ariz. Oct. 10, 2007) Surprise! Ripoff Report/Xcentric/badbusinessbureau/Magedson are in court again (I've lost count of the number of times I've blogged on them--check here and do a find...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on October 11, 2007 12:29 PM
By Eric Goldman DiMeo v. Max, 2007 WL 2717865 (3rd Cir. Sept. 19, 2007) You may recall the 2006 47 USC 230 ruling in DiMeo v. Max. The opinion was an instant Cyberlaw classic. Why? Among other credentials: the case...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on September 24, 2007 12:20 PM
By Eric Goldman Doe v. SexSearch.com, 2007 WL 2388913 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 22, 2007) Introduction This case adds to the burgeoning 230 jurisprudence involving people looking online for love or sex. (Others that come to mind include Carafano, Anthony, Landry-Bell,...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on August 25, 2007 09:41 AM
By Eric Goldman The Fair Housing Councils have filed a reply to the EFF et al amicus brief (which I joined) in favor of an en banc hearing in the Roommates.com case. In it, the plaintiffs admit that aspects of...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on August 20, 2007 06:04 PM
By Eric Goldman I've posted my 2007 Cyberlaw syllabus. Unlike the past few years, which were a little slow cyberlaw-wise, the past 12 months saw a lot of important developments. Let me recap some of changes I made to my...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on August 13, 2007 07:57 AM
By Eric Goldman The EFF, Lycos and I have filed an amicus brief in the Fair Housing Council v. Roommate.com case urging the Ninth Circuit to rehear the case en banc. See the EFF's news release about the brief. Other...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on July 18, 2007 03:40 PM
By Eric Goldman The Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley has submitted its response to Roommates.com's request for an en banc rehearing by the Ninth Circuit. Other documents in the case: * Roommates.com's En Banc Request * The original...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on July 11, 2007 03:02 PM
By Eric Goldman As I'm sure you know, I am not a fan of the recent Ninth Circuit hairball opinion in the Roommates.com case. In discussions since the opinion was issued, most of my lawyers I've spoken with have no...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on June 19, 2007 06:06 PM
By Eric Goldman Browne v. Avvo, CV7 920 (W.D. Wash. complaint filed June 14, 2007) You may have heard about Avvo, the latest entrant in the suddenly crowded field of lawyer ratings/rankings. Avvo pulls together a variety of third party...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on June 15, 2007 10:00 AM
By Eric Goldman Doe v. Ciolli, 307CV00909 CFD (D. Conn. complaint filed June 11, 2007) AutoAdmit is a message board for law students and related groupies. It's a relatively untamed corner of cyberspace. The site owners have espoused a relatively...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on June 12, 2007 11:57 AM
By Eric Goldman On the heels of the Roommates.com train wreck, two more defendants have had their 47 USC 230 defenses rejected. Interestingly, both cases come out of Tennessee federal courts in the Sixth Circuit--not normally known as a problem...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on June 5, 2007 09:37 AM
By Eric Goldman Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates.com, LLC, CV-03-09386-PA (9th Cir. May 15, 2007) Just a couple months ago, in Perfect 10 v. CCBill, the Ninth Circuit issued an incredibly expansive 230 ruling. Today, in...
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on May 15, 2007 11:59 AM
By Eric Goldman Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommate.com, LLC, 2005 WL 3299077 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 30, 2005) [actually 2004--see below] I'm not sure why this case took so long to hit Westlaw [see below for explanation]....
Posted in Technology & Marketing Law Blog on December 9, 2005 11:49 AM