Online Booksellers Get 47 USC 230 Immunity for Publisher-Supplied Marketing Collateral–Parisi v. Sinclair
By Eric Goldman Parisi v. Sinclair, 2011 WL 1206193 (D.C. D.C. March 31, 2011). The complaint. More source documents. Sinclair self-published a book that Parisi believes defamed him. The book showed up in Books-a-Million, B&N and Amazon. All of the…
Court Denies Request for Discovery of Facebook and Twitter Account Information, Finding that the Request is a “Digital Fishing Expedition”
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Caraballo v. City of NY, Index No. 75535/08 (N.Y. Sup. Ct.; Mar. 4, 2011) Plaintiff suffered personal injuries “while performing work at 417 O’Gorman Avenue, also known as 45 Keegans Lane, on Staten Island.” Predictably, defendant…
March 2011 Quick Links, Part 1 (Special Copyright Edition)
By Eric Goldman * Big news #1: Judge Chin rejected the Google Book Search settlement. The opinion. If you read only one commentary about the rejection, it should be James Grimmelmann’s recap. My 2008 comments on the settlement. * Big…
Trademark Owner Gets Injunction Against Keyword Ad Campaign That Generated No Sales for the Advertiser
By Eric Goldman InternetShopsInc.com v. Six C Consulting, Inc., 2011 WL 1113445 (N.D. Ga. March 24, 2011) [I know the headline sounds like an April Fools joke, but no April Fools here…although, as I will show, this case definitely involved…
N.D. Cal.: Facebook Posts are Electronic Mail Messages, Subject to CAN-SPAM — Facebook v. Maxbounty
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Facebook, Inc. v. Maxbounty, Inc., CV-10-4712-JF (N.D. Cal.; Mar. 28, 2011) The Northern District of California ruled that commercial posts to a Facebook user’s wall, news feed, and home page constitute “electronic mail messages” that are…
Defendant Succeeds On Second Attempt With a Section 230 Dismissal–Mealer v. GMAC
By Eric Goldman Mealer v. GMAC Mortgage LLC, 2011 WL 1103357 (D. Ariz. March 25, 2011) I previously blogged about this case a few weeks ago. Mealer claims that a GM employee, Kordella, bad-mouthed him in a comment on Mealer’s…
Court Rules That Instant Message Conversation Modified the Terms of a Written Contract — CX Digital v. Smoking Everywhere
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a few comments from Eric] CX Digital Media, Inc. v. Smoking Everywhere, Inc., 09-62020-CIV-Altonga (S.D. Fl.; Mar. 23, 2011) As contract cases go, this one is interesting. It’s more than interesting, it’s awesome! The court…
Website Privacy Policy Supports Pseudonymous Poster’s Expectation of Privacy — Cornelius v. Deluca
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Cornelius v. Deluca, 10-Cv-027-BLW (D.Id.; Mar. 15, 2011) A district court judge in Idaho denied a request to unmask the identity of a pseudonymous forum poster. In support of its decision, the court looked to the…
Groupon Hit With Two Lanham Act Lawsuits, and One Takes Google Along for the Ride
By Eric Goldman Groupion, LLC v. Groupon, Inc., 3:11-cv-00870-EMC (N.D. Cal. complaint filed Feb. 24, 2011) San Francisco Comprehensive Tours, LLC v. Groupon, Inc., CV-1300 (N.D. Cal. complaint filed March 17, 2011) __________ A company doesn’t reach a purported $6B…
Another Advertiser Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Google–Woods v. Google
By Eric Goldman Woods v. Google Inc., 5:11-cv-01263-HRL (N.D. Cal. complaint filed March 15, 2011) Since Google settled its click fraud lawsuits in 2006 and the CLRB Hanson case in 2009, it’s been a little quiet on the advertiser-vs.-Google class…