State of the Net West 2008 Recap
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…
Principal Loses Lawsuit Against Students and Parents Over Fake MySpace Page–Draker v. Schreiber
By Eric Goldman Draker v. Schreiber, 2008 WL 3457023 (Tex. App. Ct. Aug. 13, 2008). The majority opinion. The concurrence. John O. and I have previously blogged about teenagers creating fake web pages targeting someone at their school. See, e.g.,…
Fall 2008 Cyberspace Law Syllabus
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…
Economics of Reputational Information Talk
By Eric Goldman I am nearing the end of my last major research project (the Brand Spillovers project–see [1] and [2]). I hope to post a near-final draft to SSRN in the next couple of months. Meanwhile, I’m now moving…
Google Denied Attorney’s Fees in 230 Dismissal–Steele v. Mengelkoch
By Eric Goldman Steele v. Mengelkoch, 2008 WL 2966529 (Minn..App. Ct. Aug. 5, 2008) A professor at Bemidji State University wrote a story saying some putatively unflattering things about a local journalist, who didn’t take kindly to the allegations and…
Minnesota Court Says Keyword Advertising is TM Use in Commerce–Hysitron v. MTS
By Eric Goldman Hysitron Inc. v. MTS Systems Corp., 2008 WL 3161969 (D. Minn. Aug. 1, 2008) In a brief and pedestrian opinion, another court outside the Second Circuit said that buying a trademarked keyword is “use in commerce” under…
Affiliate Liability Extravaganza
By Eric Goldman [Note: I recently published a version of this article at InformIT. Here’s the pre-edited version I sent them.] Introduction This article discusses marketers’ liability for the actions of their marketing affiliates (what I refer to as “affiliate…
July 2008 Quick Links, Part II (Non-IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman Search Engines * Google explains all of the ways that it reinterprets the actual search query provided by a consumer to deliver results for words the searcher didn’t use. As I’ve said before, Google’s intermediation makes it…
July 2008 Quick Links, Part I (IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman Copyright * Granger v. Gill Abstract Corp., 2008 WL 2791264 (S.D.N.Y. July 18, 2008). A title company admitted infringing the defendant’s copyrighted “rate calculator” by posting it to the title company’s website. The plaintiff demanded actual damages…
“DVR as a Service” Isn’t Copyright Infringement–Cartoon Network v. CSC Holdings
By Eric Goldman The Cartoon Network LP v. CSC Holdings, Inc., No. 07-1480-cv(L) & 07-1511-cv(CON) (2d Cir. Aug. 4, 2008) The Second Circuit has issued an interesting and potentially important ruling that Cablevision’s DVR as a service does not infringe…