Cease & Desist Letter to iTunes Isn’t Covered by 17 USC 512(f)–Red Rock v. UMG
By Eric Goldman Rock River Communications, Inc. v. Universal Music Group, Inc., 2011 WL 1598916 (C.D.Cal. April 27, 2011) We continue to get more cases telling us what 17 USC 512(f), the cause of action for bogus copyright takedown notices,…
Department of Commerce Releases Worthless Report on Trademark Bullying
By Eric Goldman Trademark Litigation Tactics and Federal Government Services to Protect Trademarks and Prevent Counterfeiting, April 2011. [For background, see my earlier blog post on trademark bullies. The term “bully” appears only 4 times in the report; as FN51…
Copyright Takedown Notice Isn’t Actionable Unless There’s an Actual Takedown–Amaretto v. Ozimals
By Eric Goldman Amaretto Ranch Breedables, LLC v. Ozimals, Inc., 2011 WL 1753479 (N.D. Cal. April 22, 2011). My initial blog post on this case. The virtual horses and bunnies are back. This is the lawsuit between two vendors of…
Jury Rejects Lawyer’s Claims Under DC’s Anti-Spam Law — CyberLaw v. Thelaw.net
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Cyberlaw P.C. v. Thelaw.net, No 2009 CA 003615 (D.C. Sup. Ct. March 16, 2011) (complaint) (verdict form) Lawyers receive a fair amount of spam from service providers and companies who offer CLEs and other services. Most…
Court Says CAN-SPAM Plaintiff Can’t Take Second Bite at the Apple — Melaleuca v. Hansen
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Melaleuca v Hansen, 10-cv-00553 (D. Idaho; Apr. 15, 2011) This is a case where Melaleuca – a large multi-level marketing company – asserted spam claims against Daryl Hansen. That’s probably a charitable way of putting it….
Acknowledging Receipt of an Email Doesn’t Form a Contract–Stebbins v. Wal-Mart
By Eric Goldman Stebbins v. Wal-Mart Stores Arkansas, LLC, 2011 WL 1519390 (W.D. Ark. April 14, 2011). Lawsuits like these tend to be associated with repeat users of the judicial process; see the Justia Arkansas page for other lawsuits possibly…
Videos from the 47 USC 230 Conference Now Online
By Eric Goldman Without any pretense of modesty, I think we have put on a number of first-rate High Tech Law Institute events over the years. However, unquestionably, the post-event buzz from our recent conference on 47 USC 230 has…
Google Wins Lawsuit Over Unhappy Google Search Appliance Installation–Market America v. Google
By Eric Goldman Market America, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 2011 WL 1485616 (D. Del. April 19, 2011) I blogged about this case last year. Market America retained Google and its system integrator LTech to install a Google Search Appliance to…
Republishing Entire Newspaper Story is Fair Use–Righthaven v. CIO
By Eric Goldman Righthaven, LLC v. Jama, 2011 WL 1541613 (D. Nev. April 22, 2011). See my comprehensive blog post on Righthaven from October. [Note: A month ago, the judge orally dismissed the defendant in this case. Yesterday, the judge…
Blogger Gets 47 USC 230 Dismissal for Third Party Comment–Kruska v. Perverted Justice
By Eric Goldman Kruska v. Perverted Justice Foundation Inc., 2011 WL 1260224 (D. Ariz. April 5, 2011) This is my third time blogging this case. The latest ruling involves a blog, run by Brocious, for people fighting pedophiles. Someone (presumably…