MySpace Evidence: Maryland Appeals Court Allows Circumstantial Authentication — Griffin v. Maryland
[Post by Venkat] Griffin v. Maryland, Case No. 1132 (Md. Ct. App.) (May 27, 2010) [pdf] Facts: Defendant Griffin was convicted of murder. The first trial ended in a mistrial. The underlying facts were that the defendant allegedly got into…
EFF Weighs in on Facebook v. Power Ventures — Facebook v. Power Ventures
[Post by Venkat] Facebook v. Power Ventures, Case No. 5:08-cv-05780 JW (N.D. Cal.) (Facebook Motion) (EFF Amicus Brief) Facebook and Power Ventures have been locked in a dispute over whether Power Ventures can access Facebook’s website and network outside of…
Beacon Class Action Lawyers Awarded $2.3MM in Fees — Lane v. Facebook
[Post by Venkat] Lane v. Facebook, Case No. 08-3845 RS (N.D. Cal.) (Order re Attorney Fees) The lawsuit over Facebook’s ill-fated Beacon program generated three lawsuits, a lot of wrangling by class action lawyers, and more than a few blog…
Life May Be “Rad,” But This Trademark Lawsuit Isn’t–Williams v. CafePress.com
By Eric Goldman Williams v. Life’s Rad, 2010 U.S.Dist. LEXIS 46763 (N.D. Cal. May 12, 2010) This lawsuit bummed me out. The trademark at issue–the surfing-inspired “Life’s Rad”–is supposed to lift people up, but it’s hard to maintain a sunny…
Steps Brand Owners Can Take to Deal With Brandjacking on Social Networks
[Post by Venkat] Winston & Strawn published an article titled [pdf] “Five Steps to Protect Your Trademarks in a Web 2.0 World.” The article sets out some steps brand owners can take to prevent or deal with infringement of their…
A First Look by Tom McCarthy at the Sixth Circuit’s 2010 Victoria’s Secret Tarnishment Decision [Guest Blog Post]
By J. Thomas McCarthy [Eric’s note: Last week, the Sixth Circuit issued a new ruling in the long-running V Secret Catalogue v. Moseley case, this time featuring three opinions from a three-judge panel. Tom McCarthy has generously shared his views…
Twitter May Allow Competitors to Purchase Trademarks as Keywords for Sponsored Tweets
[Post by Venkat] via Reid Wilson (at the INTA Annual Meeting): Twitter’s GC on sponsored tweets: still working on the policy; may permit TM’s to be purchased by competitors as key words 4 sponsored twts.less than a minute ago via…
Second Circuit Stays Hot News Injunction–Barclays v. theflyonthewall
By Eric Goldman Barclays Capital Inc. v. Theflyonthewall.com, Inc., 10-1372-cv (2d Cir. May 19, 2010) This case is my choice for the most interesting Cyberlaw development of 2010 (so far). Unfortunately, I ran out of time to blog it when…
CAN-SPAM Plaintiff Slammed With $800K Attorney Fee Award — Asis Internet v. Optin Global
[Post by Venkat] Asis Internet Servs. v. Optin Global, Inc., et al., Case No. C-05-05124JCS (N.D. Cal. May 19, 2010) A federal court granted a request for attorney’s fees (in the amount of $806,978.84) against prolific CAN-SPAM plaintiff Asis Internet….
Web-based Email Bombardment Campaign Does Not Amount to a Violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — Pulte Homes, Inc. v. LiUNA
[Post by Venkat] Pulte Homes, Inc. v. Laborers’ International Union of North America, et al. (E.D. Mich.) (May 12, 2010) Background: Pulte Homes, “the largest new home builder in the United States” terminated eight employees. Defendant Laborers’ International Union of…