Music File in P2P Share Directory May Be a Distribution–Interscope v. Duty
By Eric Goldman Interscope Records v. Duty, No. 05-CV-3744-PHX-FJM (D. Ariz. Apr. 14, 2006) Introduction The number of P2P direct infringement opinions is growing, and the news isn’t good for file sharers. The flagship case is BMG v. Gonzalez, where…
Congress to Make Search Engine Bias Illegal?
By Eric Goldman Like we couldn’t see this coming. To make the point that the content providers are playing with fire, one member of Congress has proposed to sweep them into the Net Neutrality legislation (see the text). Ha ha….
“Must Carry” Lawsuit Against Search Engines–Langdon v. Google
By Eric Goldman Langdon v. Google, 1:06-cv-00319-JJF (D. Delaware complaint filed May 17, 2006) Omigosh, will these lawsuits over search engine editorial discretion ever cease? Earlier this week I reported on (yet another) lawsuit against Google for dropping a website…
Google Avoids Another Lawsuit Over Rankings (For Now)–Roberts v. Google
By Eric Goldman Roberts v. Google, No. 1-06-CV-063047 (Cal. Superior Ct. complaint filed May 5, 2006 but voluntarily dismissed) In what he claims is the “first legitimate complaint vs google regarding search result issues,” Mark Roberts, a proprietor of two…
Denver IP Summit Presentation
By Eric Goldman I attended the Denver Summit on Intellectual Property and Digital Media. The audience was principally cable industry participants, but there were plenty of content creators (and legal academics) in attendance. I spoke about the various ways that…
Search Engines Awarded Legal Fees in Unmeritorious Copyright Case–Newborn v. Yahoo
By Eric Goldman Newborn v. Yahoo, 2006 WL 1409769 (D.D.C. May 23, 2006) I blogged about this case in November 2005. At that time, the plaintiff sued Yahoo and Google under copyright and trademark law because the search engines had…
NYT on Fair Use and Documentaries
By Eric Goldman The NY Times runs an article on documentaries and fair use. It describes the thicket of copyright clearances necessary to reuse film clips in documentaries, which can be fatal to a documentary project. It gives one example…
O’Reilly and the “Web 2.0” Trademark
By Eric Goldman O’Reilly Media is a publisher of technical books. They also operate some technical conferences, including the “O’Reilly Web 2.0 Conference.” They are in the process of registering a trademark in the phrase “Web 2.0” for Arranging and…
Online Message Board Protected by 47 USC 230–DiMeo v. Max
By Eric Goldman DiMeo v. Max, No. 06-1544 (E.D. Pa. May 26, 2006) In my world, it’s not a party until someone spills something. But in Anthony DiMeo’s world, it appears that it’s not a party until someone brings a…
Merck v. Mediplan Redux–Keyword Purchases Really Aren’t Trademark Use
By Eric Goldman Merck & Co. v. Mediplan Health Consulting, Inc., 2006 WL 1418616 (SDNY motion for reconsideration denied May 24, 2006) In late March, the legality of the search engine keyword advertising industry got very murky due to two…