Yellow Pages Publisher Hit with $1.5M Fraud Judgment for Publishing False Ad–Knepper v. Brown
By Eric Goldman Knepper v. Brown, CC 9903-02495 (Or. Sup. Ct. Oct. 9, 2008) A woman got a botched liposuction job (which plaintiff’s expert described as an “uncorrectable disaster”) from Dr. Brown, a dermatologist. She sued the dermatologist and Dex,…
Just who is an Internet access service provider under CAN-SPAM?
Worded to prevent lawsuits by individual email recipients, the federal CAN-SPAM Act limits who can bring suit for a CAN-SPAM violation. In addition to state and federal enforcers, the Act allows suits by “Internet access service providers.” Just who are…
October 2008 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright Edition)
By Eric Goldman * Happy (?) 10th birthday, DMCA. The EFF birthday cards (1, 2). * Speaking of the DMCA, Sen. McCain got a first-hand experience with it when his lawyer complained to YouTube that YouTube was taking down campaign…
Lambotte’s Click Fraud Lawsuit Against IAC Survives Motion to Dismiss
By Eric Goldman Lambotte v. IAC/InterActiveCorp, 2008 WL 4829882 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 4, 2008). Initial blog post on the filing of the first complaint. Lambotte filed this putative class action lawsuit against IAC in May based on alleged click fraud….
Rip-off Report Wins Dismissal–GW Equity v. Xcentric
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…
Rip-off Report Back in Court
By Eric Goldman It’s been a few months since I’ve blogged on new Rip-off Report litigation. For many companies, a blog hiatus might signal good news, but in Rip-off Report’s situation, it merely reflects that I’ve been falling behind in…
First Amendment Protects Spoof Strip Club in Video Game from Trademark Claim–ESS Entertainment v. Rock Star Videos
By Eric Goldman E.S.S. Entertainment 2000, Inc. v. Rock Star Videos, Inc., No. 06-56237 (9th Cir. Nov. 5, 2008) This case reinforces how trademark law has gone so far astray that easy cases have become hard ones. This lawsuit was…
SEC’s Proposed Guidance on Hyperlinking Contravenes 47 USC 230
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…
Student Term Paper Website Brings a Lawsuit; Instead Gets Nailed With $700k Award Against It–Axact v. Student Network Resources
By Eric Goldman Axact (Pvt.) Ltd. v. Student Network Resources, 2008 WL 4754907 (D. N.J. Oct. 22, 2008). The Justia page. Axact’s initial complaint. A letter from defense counsel to the judge recapping some of the sad story. I’m always…
CAN-Spam-a-Friend?–Hoang v. Reunion.com
Hoang v. Reunion.com sidesteps an eagerly anticipated legal dispute over the legality of commercial address book scraping and ‘send-to-a-friend’ emails, and also highlights the damage that can cascade when a federal Circuit Court woefully misreads a statute. By Ethan Ackerman…