Forwarding Defamatory Email with Introductory Comments Protected by 47 USC 230–Phan v. Pham
By Eric Goldman Phan v. Pham, 2010 WL 658244 (Cal. App. Ct. Feb. 25, 2010) This is the first 230 case I’m blogging about in 2010 (see my 2009 recap), and what a nice ruling to start the year. The…
Rare Ruling on Damages for Sending Bogus Copyright Takedown Notice–Lenz v. Universal
By Eric Goldman Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., 5:07-cv-03783-JF (N.D. Cal. Feb. 25. 2010) In the lawsuit over the allegedly bogus takedown of a YouTube video of a baby dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” (previous blog coverage), Judge Fogel…
Google AdWords Contract Upheld Again, Causing a Venue Transfer in Flowbee v. Google
By Eric Goldman Flowbee International, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 4:10-cv-00668-LB (S.D. Tex. Feb. 8, 2010). My post on Flowbee’s initial complaint. Google has successfully transferred Flowbee v. Google from Texas to California by invoking the venue selection clause in its…
Clickthrough Agreement With Acknowledgement Checkbox Enforced–Scherillo v. Dun & Bradstreet
By Eric Goldman Scherillo v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., 2010 WL 537805 (E.D.N.Y. Feb. 17, 2010) I teach my Cyberspace Law students that the most effective online contract formation process is a “mandatory non-leaky clickthrough agreement”: * mandatory = the…
Google Hit With Another Antitrust Lawsuit. Does It Have Microsoft Ties? Google v. myTriggers
By Eric Goldman Google, Inc v. myTriggers.com, Inc., 09 CV 14836 (Franklin County Ct. of Common Pleas, Ohio). Google filed its first amended complaint on January 20, 2010. myTriggers filed an answer with counterclaims on February 2, 2010. See both…
Kozinski and Goldfoot on Cyberspace Exceptionalism and Internet Regulation
By Eric Goldman Alex Kozinski & Josh Goldfoot, A Declaration of the Dependence of Cyberspace, 32 Colum. J.L. & Arts 365 (2009). Introduction In early 1996, in response to Congress’ enactment of the Communications Decency Act (the first comprehensive attempt…
Ripoff Report Sues Blogger, Loses on Jurisdictional Grounds–Xcentric Ventures v. Bird
By Eric Goldman Xcentric Ventures, LLC v. Bird, 2010 WL 447759 (D. Ariz. Feb. 3, 2010). See the initial complaint. I usually find personal jurisdiction rulings mind-numbingly uninteresting, so I try my best to avoid them. However, some personal jurisdiction…
Catching Up With Wikipedia
By Eric Goldman I recently posted the final published version of my article Wikipedia’s Labor Squeeze and its Consequences. In the course of updating the draft, I reviewed the news coverage of Wikipedia from the second half of 2009, and…
Third Circuit Schizophrenia Over Student Discipline for Fake MySpace Profiles
By Eric Goldman J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, 2010 WL 376186 (3rd Cir. Feb. 4, 2010) Layshock v. Hermitage School District, 2010 WL 376184 (3rd Cir. Feb. 4, 2010) Now that I’m a middle-aged man, I don’t find fake…
FTC Privacy Roundtable Recap
By Eric Goldman [Introductory note: I have repeatedly criticized the FTC on this blog, and this post may implicitly criticize them as well. At the same time, I want to share a couple of compliments for the FTC. First, the…