9th Circuit Affirms Rejection of Data Breach Claims Against Gap — Ruiz v. Gap
[Post by Venkat with a few comments from Eric at the bottom] Ruiz v. Gap, Inc. (9th Cir. May 28, 2010) In a decision that does not bode well for plaintiffs bringing privacy-based claims against Facebook in California, the Ninth…
April-May 2010 Quick Links Part 1 (IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman [Note: I just got back from the Netherlands, where I had extremely limited Internet connectivity, so sorry for my absence in the last week (although you were in good hands with Venkat). I will be posting more…
Facebook Messages/Wall Posts, Civil Discovery, and the Stored Communications Act — Crispin v. Audigier
[Post by Venkat] Crispin v. Audigier, Case No. CV 09-09509 MMM (JEMx) (May 26, 2010) With the proliferation of the use of social network profile evidence, it was only a matter of time before a court dealt with the issue…
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…