Reunion.com Revisited Again: Claims Under CA Spam Law Not Preempted by CAN-SPAM — Hoang v. Reunion.com
[Post by Venkat] Hoang v. Reunion.com, No. C-08-3518 MMC (March 31, 2010) Reunion.com is a long-running case that’s been blogged extensively by Ethan and others. A group of plaintiffs who received emails through Reunion’s alleged “invite your friends whether you…
FTC Endorsement and Testimonials Guidelines Notes from SMX West
By Eric Goldman Last month, I spoke at SMX West about the FTC Endorsement and Testimonial Guidelines. My talk notes: Beatles fans routinely parsed the meaning of John Lennon’s lyrics, which irritated him. When Lennon released “I am the Walrus,”…
Yahoo! Chat Logs Admitted Over Defendant’s Objections Based on Eavesdropping Statute — People v. Nakai
[Post by Venkat] State v. Singh Nakai, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 446 (Cal. App.) (Div. 2) (April 2, 2010) Division two of the California Court of Appeals recently rejected a defendant’s argument that California’s eavesdropping statute precluded the admission of…
Google Sued for Publishing Home Address–Harris v. Google
By Eric Goldman Harris v. Google, Inc., 1:10-cv-21119-AJ (complaint removed to S.D. Fla. April 8, 2010). The original complaint filed in state court. Google’s removal to federal court. Jonathon Harris sells rare coins. His business office is in Stuart, Florida,…
Google Successfully Transfers Another AdWords Case to California–Parts Geek v. US Auto Parts
By Eric Goldman Parts Geek, LLC v. U.S. Auto Parts Network, Inc., 2010 WL 1381005 (D.N.J. April 1, 2010) Google has successfully transferred another trademark lawsuit over AdWords to its home court in California based on the mandatory venue clause…
Ninth Circuit Applies California law to Domain Name Ownership Dispute and Remands for Determination of Whether “Innocent Purchaser” Defense Applies — CRS Recovery, Inc. v. Laxton
[Post by Venkat] CRS Recovery, Inc. v. Laxton, 9th Cir. (April 6, 2010). Background: Mayberry registered rl.com through Network Solutions in 1995. At the time, mat.net was also registered to him. Mayberry provided dale@mat.net as the email address for the…
Veoh Denied Attorneys’ Fees in UMG v. Veoh. Does FRCP 68 Apply to Copyright Cases?
By Eric Goldman UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Veoh Networks Inc., 2010 WL 1407316 (C.D. Cal. April 6, 2010) Copyright law contains a statutory fee-shifting/”loser pays” provision (17 USC 505) that, in specified circumstances, gives the judge discretion to award attorneys’…
Ochoa on the Legacy of the Statute of Anne
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa Today marks the 300th Anniversary of the effective date of the Statute of Anne, the first modern copyright law. Although copyright law has changed a great deal in the past 300 years, the legacy of…
Unmasked Judge/Commenter Sues Newspaper for $50mm — Saffold v. Plain Dealer
[Post by Venkat] Saffold v. Plain Dealer Publishing Co., Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas (filed April 7, 2010) [scribd] A judge/commenter who was unmasked by the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reportedly suing the newspaper for 50 million dollars. (h/t…
“Mistake of Age” Defense When a Sexual Abuse Victim Inflated Her Age on MySpace
By Eric Goldman I continue to see a troubling number of cases in Westlaw that involve an overaged male and underaged female having illegal sex, in some case facilitated by a social networking site (especially MySpace). In the past few…