AFP v. Google Settles

By Eric Goldman The Agence France-Presse v. Google lawsuit has settled. See news reports: AP, CNET News.com. Like it did with the Associated Press, Google struck a licensing deal for AFP content, including indexing it in Google News. Financial terms…

When Congress Giveth, is the Dormant Commerce Clause Taken Away?–Free Speech Coalition v. Shurtleff

by Ethan Ackerman Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Shurtleff, 2:05CV949DAK (D. Utah March 23, 2007) Why do courts seem eager to use CAN-SPAM’s preemption language to give state email laws a free pass from the Dormant Commerce Clause? Utah’s courts…

Google AdWords Contract Upheld (Again)–Feldman v. Google

By Eric Goldman Feldman v. Google, Inc., 2007 WL 966011 (E.D. Pa. March 29, 2007) Yet another click fraud lawsuit, this time involving one of the 556 plaintiffs that opted out of the Google click fraud settlement. In my prior…

Regulating “Stealth” Marketing

By Eric Goldman I’ve never understood the legal distinctions between “editorial content” and “marketing.” To me, content is content. Certainly, content can have problematic/harmful attributes, such as false content. And often I want to know more about the identity of…

Utah Bans Keyword Advertising [Updated]

By Eric Goldman Utah SB 236 (the “Trademark Protection Act”), enacted March 19, 2007 Legislators enact stupid laws all of the time, but some laws transcend mere stupidity and produce a single 3 letter response: WTF? And no legislature has…

Ninth Circuit Opinion in Perfect 10 v. CCBill

By Eric Goldman Perfect 10, Inc. v. CCBill LLC, No. 04-57143, 04-57207 (9th Cir. March 29, 2007) The Ninth Circuit issued an important but characteristically quirky opinion in Perfect 10 v. CCBill. This omnibus opinion covered a lot of disparate…

New Discussion Draft of GPL3 is Posted

By John Ottaviani The Free Software Foundation posted draft 3 of GPL3 on its website today. The General Public License (GPL) is one of the most widely used open source licenses. Version 1 was released in 1981, and Version 2…

The End is Near – Bertelsmann Settles EMI Claims Over Napster

By John Ottaviani Various sources are reporting that EMI has agreed to settle its copyright infringement lawsuit against Bertelsmann AG related to Bertelsmann’s investment in Napster. The settlement removes the last large record label with claims against Bertelsmann in the…

Consumer-Directed DVR Service Infringes Copyright–20th Century Fox v. Cablevision

By Eric Goldman Twentieth Century Fox Films Corp. v. Cablevision Systems Corp., No. 06-Civ. 03390 (SDNY March 22, 2007) Not infrequently, copyright defendants argue that they are offering a service that passively implements consumer directions to infringe. In some cases,…

Miva Securities Litigation Rejects Most Click Fraud/Syndication Fraud Claims

By Eric Goldman In re Miva, Inc. Securities Litigation, 2007 WL 809686 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 15, 2007) Stockholders of Miva (formerly FindWhat) sued Miva, alleging that Miva had inflated its stock price by making false public statements. In this ruling,…

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