Yahoo! Entitled to Immunity for Disclosing User Information in Response to Subpoena — Sams v. Yahoo!
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Sams v. Yahoo!, Inc., CV-10-5897-JF(HRL) (N.D. Cal.; May 18, 2011) Fayelynn Sams sued Yahoo!, contending that Yahoo! improperly produced information in response to a subpoena which requested information regarding Sams’s account. She brought a putative class…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 2 (Copyright Edition)
By Eric Goldman * COICA is dead, but S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act, has arisen from its ashes. Criticisms from technologists and the EFF. * The Department of Homeland Security’s domain name seizures are probably the single worst US…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 1 (Trademarks and Advertising Edition)
By Eric Goldman Trademark * Facebook has quite an active trademark docket. – Facebook, Inc. v. Teachbook.com, LLC, 2011 WL 1672464 (N.D.Cal. May 3, 2011). Facebook’s trademark suit against Teachbook was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. Facebook promptly refiled…
Review Website Should Get 47 USC 230 Dismissal But Judge Keeps Case Open in “Abundance of Caution”–Frontier Van Lines v. MoverReviews.com
By Eric Goldman Frontier Van Line Moving & Storage, Inc. v. Valley Solutions, Inc., 2011 WL 2110825 (W.D. Pa. May 24, 2011) MoverReviews.com is a review website for moving companies. Frontier Van Lines alleges that a MoverReviews user, Schmidt, made…
Online Insurance Application Constitutes “Writing” for Purposes of Waiving Insurance Coverage for Medical Benefits–Barwick v. GEICO
By John Ottaviani Barwick v. Government Employee Insurance Co., Inc., 2011 Ark. 128 (March 31, 2011) [link] Although 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have adopted the Uniform Electronic Transaction Act (UETA), we have…
Ninth Circuit: FACTA Does not Cover Emailed Receipts — Simonoff v. Expedia
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Simonoff v. Expedia, No. 10-35595 (9th Cir.; May 24, 2011) FACTA is a statute which requires merchants to truncate the customer’s credit card information on receipts that are “electronically printed.” Plaintiffs have brought claims against online…
Cyberbullying and Restorative Justice [a Long-Delayed Post on DC v. RR]
By Eric Goldman [I’ve mentioned before that some posts get stuck in my blogging queue. This one got stuck for an incredible FOURTEEN months. Although its discussion about the specific case ruling is almost farcically untimely, I’ve decided that the…
Ohio Appeals Court: GoDaddy can be Held Liable for Wrongly Transferring Control Over Domain Name and Email Accounts — Eysoldt v. ProScan
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Eysoldt v. GoDaddy, et al., C-100528 (Ohio Ct. App.; May 18, 2011) Actions against registrars for allowing domain names to be wrongly transferred have been relatively rare. Members of the Eysoldt family brought claims against GoDaddy…
Keyword Advertising and Domain Name Law Slides
By Eric Goldman Today, I spoke to an audience of Chinese IP judges about keyword advertising and domain names in the United States. I put together some slides and written materials. These materials aren’t especially profound, especially for regular readers,…
Copyright and Tattoos: Hangover II Injunction Denied, But the Copyright Owner Got Some Good News Too–Whitmill v. Warner Bros. (Guest Blog Post)
by Yvette Joy Liebesman [Eric’s note: Yvette is a law professor at Saint Louis University specializing in copyrights and trademarks. She attended the hearing and sent in this first-hand field report!] Whitmill v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 4:11-cv-00752 (E.D. Mo.)….