Facebook Friendship May Undermine University Disciplinary Board Decision — Furey v. Temple Univ.
[Post by Venkat] Furey v. Temple University, Civ. No. 09-2472 (E.D. Pa.) (Aug. 3, 2010) The Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently concluded that a Facebook ‘friendship’ between a Temple University disciplinary board member and a witness may have procedurally undermined…
New Anti-Libel Tourism Act (HR 2765) Extends 47 USC 230 to Foreign Judgments
By Eric Goldman President Obama signed HR 2765, the “SPEECH Act,” into law, codified at 28 USC Secs. 4101-4105. The act prohibits US courts from enforcing foreign defamation judgments unless (1) the judgment would satisfy First Amendment or similar state…
July 2010 Quick Links, Part 1 (IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman Trademarks * Rebelution, LLC v. Perez, 2010 WL 3036217 (N.D. Cal. July 30, 2010). The plaintiff is a band named Rebelution. The defendant is a music performer named Pitbull who released an album “Pitbull Starring in Rebelution”…
Ca. Appeals Ct. Affirms Conviction For Fake MySpace Emails Intended to Influence Custody Dispute — People v. Heeter
[Post by Venkat] People v. Heeter, B213696 (Cal. Ct. App.) (Aug. 2, 2010) Background: In a criminal prosecution stemming from false evidence used in a family law dispute, a defendant was convicted of sending fake emails to herself with the…
Google Liberalizes Its European Trademark Policy
By Eric Goldman After the ECJ’s favorable opinion in the Google cases, I’ve been wondering if Google would liberalize its trademark policy in Europe. It took Google 4 months to parse the ECJ’s inscrutable opinion and make a call, but…
Web Host Gets Easy 47 USC 230 Win in Catfight–Johnson v. Arden
By Eric Goldman Johnson v. Arden, 2010 WL 3023660 (8th Cir. August 4, 2010). The CMLP page with lots of source materials. I’ve been looking at over-the-top cute kitty pictures all morning. Just try to suppress the “aahs” on a…
9th Cir. Smacks Down AOL’s Advertising.com Trademark as Likely Generic — Advertise.com v. AOL
[Post by Venkat] Advertise.com, Inc. v. AOL Advertising, Inc., Case No. 10-55069 (9th Cir; Aug 3, 2010). The Ninth Circuit handed AOL a preliminary trademark loss, finding that ADVERTISING.COM is likely generic for internet advertising services. Background: AOL owned trademark…
Google Gets Complete Win in Rosetta Stone Case
By Eric Goldman Rosetta Stone Ltd. v. Google Inc., 1:09-cv-00736-GBL-TCB (E.D. Va.). Opinion granting Google’s motion to dismiss filed August 3, 2010, 2010 WL 3063152. Order granting Google’s motion to dismiss the unjust enrichment claim filed August 2, 2010, 2010…
Baidu Can Maintain Negligence Claims Against Register.com for Lax Security Practices Which Allegedly Facilitated Cyber-Attack – Baidu v. Register.com
[Post by Venkat] Baidu, Inc. v. Register.com, Inc., Case no. 10 Civ. 444 (DC) (S.D.N.Y.) (July 22, 2010). Background: Baidu registered the domain name with Register.com, a domain name registrar, which provided Baidu with “Internet traffic routing services.” A third…