Utah Passes Nation’s First (?) Bioprospecting Regulation
By Eric Goldman The Utah legislature has passed SB 51, the “Utah Bioprospecting Act,” which requires a government-issued license (which presumably will include a royalty cut for the state) before engaging in bioprospecting on government lands not owned by the…
TradeComet v. Google Dismissed Based on Venue Selection Clause
By Eric Goldman TradeComet.com LLC v. Google, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20154 (SDNY March 5, 2010) The judge has (finally) dismissed TradeComet’s antitrust lawsuit against Google based on the venue selection clause in Google’s AdWords contract. The result isn’t…
Crowdsourced Ads May Not Be Protected by 47 USC 230–Subway v. Quiznos
By Eric Goldman Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. QIP Holders LLC, 2010 WL 669870 (D. Conn. Feb. 19, 2010). My prior post on this case. As a long-time vegetarian (over a quarter-century), I find America’s obsession with “more meat” competitions simultaneously…
Rescuecom Abandons Its Litigation Against Google
By Eric Goldman Today, Rescuecom issued a press release declaring victory in its litigation against Google. But it’s an odd definition of “victory” given that Rescuecom has apparently voluntarily abandoned its 6 year litigation effort without any new concessions from…
Eighth Circuit: No Derivative Liability Under Iowa Spam Statute — Kramer v. Bartok
[Post by Venkat] Kramer v. Bartok, Case No. 08-3841 (8th Cir. Feb. 19, 2010) (scribd link). The Eighth Circuit recently reversed an award of $236 million in damages against a spam defendant based on a theory of secondary liability. The…
Google Dismisses Some Claims in Jurin v. Google and Gets Some Attorneys’ Fees
By Eric Goldman Jurin v. Google, Inc., 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18208 (E.D. Cal. March 1, 2010) Jurin v. Google is one of the 10 outstanding trademark-based claims against Google’s AdWords programs–in this case, over advertiser purchases of Jurin’s trademark…
Why I Support HR 4364, the Proposed Federal Anti-SLAPP Bill
By Eric Goldman In mid-December, in a move that got a little lost in the holiday shuffle, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced HR 4364, the “Citizen Participation Act of 2009,” proposing a federal anti-SLAPP law. This blog post explains why…
February 2010 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Copyright * Mavericks Recording Co. v. Harper (5th Cir. Feb. 25, 2010). 17 USC 402(d) precludes an innocent infringement defense in P2P downloading case when the record companies place proper copyright notices on their works. This is…
Ninth Circuit: Creditor Can Execute Against Domain Name Where Registry is Located — Office Depot v. Zuccarini
[Post by Venkat] The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling in Office Depot v. Zuccarini [Scribd link], agreeing that a creditor may levy against a domain name in the jurisdiction where the domain name registry is located. The decision…
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…