July 2007 Quick Links, Part I
By Eric Goldman Search Engines * According to this study, up to 40% of search queries are “re-finding queries” (i.e., the searcher is trying to re-find previously viewed information). The implication: “Because people repeat queries so frequently, search engines should…
Fourth Amendment Privacy Case Law Bonanza
By Ethan Ackerman In June, privacy advocates generally celebrated the Sixth Circuit’s important 4th Amendment ruling in US. v. Warshak. But hot on its heels, the Ninth Circuit sobered the tone rather quickly in US. v. Alba, declining to find…
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Contract Amendment Without Notice–Douglas v. Talk America
By Eric Goldman Douglas v. US District Court ex rel Talk America, No. 06-75424 (9th Cir. July 18, 2007) In this case, the plaintiff initially procured telephony services from AOL, which subsequently sold its telephony business to Talk America. Talk…
Advertiser Liability for “Contributory” Trespass to Chattels Redux–Burgess v. American Express
By Eric Goldman Burgess v. American Express Co., 2007 NCBC 15 (N.C. Superior Ct. May 21, 2007) David Fish points to an interesting new ruling on the subject of advertiser liability for pop-up advertising (I’m inferring that the pop-ups were…
Roommates.com Amicus Brief
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…
Patent Contingency Fee Agreements
By Eric Goldman Patent litigation is hot, but I rarely see much discussion about the fee agreements used by patent litigants. So I was very interested to hear Stephen Susman (from the well-known Susman Godfrey firm) speak at the May…
Third Circuit Bounces Lawsuit Over Google Groups–Parker v. Google
By Eric Goldman Parker v. Google, Inc., No. 06-3074 (3d Cir. July 10, 2007) Parker v. Google was one of the troika of district court opinions involving Google and copyright from Q1 2006 (along with the Perfect 10 and Field…
Old-School Defamation Lawsuit Filed Against Google–Phillips v. Google
By Eric Goldman Phillips v. Google Inc., 3:2007-cv-01236 (N.D. Tex. complaint filed June 4, 2007; removed from state court July 11, 2007) By now, it seems that most defamation plaintiffs know about 47 USC 230 when suing online intermediaries based…
Fair Housing Council Responds to Roommates.com’s En Banc Hearing Request
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…
Seventh Circuit Opinion Cites Infringing YouTube Video–Stoller v. Brett
By Eric Goldman Central Manufacturing, Inc. v. Brett, 2007 WL 1965673 (7th Cir. July 9, 2007) Leo Stoller, the notorious trademark gadfly, lost another case, this time at the Seventh Circuit. Among other denigrations, the Seventh Circuit said that “were…