Ikon Office Solutions Had no Duty to Disclose That Office Equipment Retained Data — Putnam Bank v. Ikon Office Solutions
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Putnam Bank v. Ikon Office Solutions, Inc., 10-cv-1067 (WWE) (D. Conn.; July 5, 2011) Putnam Bank filed a putative class action on behalf of those who purchased and leased office equipment from Ikon, alleging that Ikon…
A Close Look at Missouri’s “Amy Hestir Student Protection Act” (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Sydney Muray, Certified Paralegal In the 1980s, a 12-year-old girl named Amy Hestir was manipulated by her seven-grade music teacher into an abusive sexual relationship that lasted over a year. While Amy suffered severe emotional trauma as…
Racy Teen Photos Posted to Facebook Are Constitutionally Protected Speech–TV v. Smith-Green
By Eric Goldman T.V. v. Smith-Green Community School Corp., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88403 (N.D. Ind. Aug. 10, 2011). It appears we will get a steady stream of legal rulings about teens being teens while playing around with Facebook accounts….
Missouri Federal Court Says LegalZoom Could be Engaged in the Unauthorized Practice of Law — Janson v. LegalZoom
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Janson v. LegalZoom, Inc., 2:10-CV-04018-NKL (W.D. Mo. Aug. 2, 2011) Background: LegalZoom offers “blank legal forms that customers may download.” In addition, LegalZoom makes available an internet portal. Here’s how LegalZoom describes this aspect of its…
The 9th Circuit Tackles a Pair of Internet Jurisdiction Cases
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] I’m inclined to agree with Eric that internet personal jurisdiction cases are not the most exciting. The resolution of a question over whether personal jurisdiction is proper often has more to do with whether the court…
Catching Up on 4 Months of Online Copyright Cases–Myxer, Hotfile, Megaupload, Flava Works, Zediva, Blue Nile, Perfect 10, Rojadirecta
By Eric Goldman Online copyright cases have been coming at such a furious pace that I haven’t had a chance to keep up. This blog post wraps up the last 4 months of decisions. Arista Records v. Myxer, Inc., 2:08-cv-03935-GAF-JC…
Defamation Claim Over Stock Board Discussion Easily Dismissed–Desai v. Clark
By Eric Goldman Desai v. Clark, 2011 WL 3359971 (N.D.Cal. August 2, 2011) I’ve been seeing a steady stream of defamation and related claims over discussions in stock message boards. This case is representative of what I’m seeing. Ketan Desai…
Zynga Wins Arbitration Ruling on “Special Offer” Class Claims Based on Concepcion — Swift v. Zynga
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Swift v. Zynga, 2011 WL 3419499 (N.D. Cal.; August 4, 2011) The US Supreme Court decided AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion earlier this year, and a question left open in that decision is…
Google Gets Default Injunction Against AdWord Gamers–Google v. Jackman
By Eric Goldman Google v. Jackman, 2011 WL 3267907 (N.D. Cal. July 28, 2011) This is a default ruling, so the facts are based on Google’s allegations. The defendants ran AdWords campaigns for online pharmacies that sold anabolic steroids. This…
TheDirty Defeats Publicity Rights Claims–Gauck v. Karamian
By Eric Goldman Gauck v. Karamian, 2011 WL 3273123 (W.D.Tenn. July 29, 2011) TheDirty.com has an increasingly active litigation docket. This case comes from Lauren Lee Gauck Giovanetti, a TV news reporter for Fox 13 in Memphis, Tennessee. She sued…