Court Says Plaintiff Lacks Standing to Pursue Failure-to-Purge Claim Under the VPPA – Sterk v. Best Buy
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Sterk v. Best Buy, 11 C 1894 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 17, 2012) The VPPA has spawned a lot of litigation over the past couple of years. One hot button area has been the applicability of the…
Yet Another Ruling That Competitive Keyword Ad Lawsuits Are Stupid–Louisiana Pacific v. James Hardie (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Louisiana Pacific Corp. v. James Hardie Building Products, Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162980 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 14, 2012). The initial complaint. The amended complaint filed after this ruling. It’s been surreal watching plaintiff-side trademark lawyers lament…
Lawsuit Over “Google Tags” Dismissed–Frezza v. Google
By Eric Goldman Frezza v. Google, 2012 WL 5877587 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 20, 2012) In Feb. 2010, Google introduced Google Tags, an advertising option in Google Places. Google Tags is now dead, but Google’s still dealing with the aftermath. To…
Employee Terminated for Facebook Message Fails to State Public Policy Claim — Barnett v. Aultman
Barnett v. Aultman Hosp., 11-CV-399 (N.D. Oh. Oct. 31, 2012) Barnett was a nurse at Aultman Hospital. She didn’t particularly get along with her supervisor, Lisa Summer. While Barnett was on vacation, she received word that Summer had been fired….
Online Data Broker Need not Comply With Licensing Requirements for Private Investigators – Brown v. Intelius
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment by Eric] Brown v. Intelius, 4:12cv00852 AGF (E.D. Miss. Nov. 21, 2012) Intelius brokers data about individuals. The information comes from a variety of sources, including public sources. Plaintiff paid a fee and…
Expert Report on the Value of Consumer Review Websites and 47 USC 230
By Eric Goldman [Eric’s note: most expert reports in litigation never see the light of day. Naturally, this collides with my blogger’s ethos of leaving no thought unpublished. As a result, after preparing this expert report regarding the social value…
Court Kicks Data Breach Claim Against Valve – Grigsby v. Valve
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Grigsby v. Valve Corp., No. C12-0553JLR (W.D. Wash. Nov. 14, 2012) Valve is facing a putative class action over a hacking incident involving a breach of Valve’s security system and access to the personal information of…
AmeriGas Gives Up Its Lawsuit Against PissedConsumer
By Eric Goldman AmeriGas and Opinion Corp. (PissedConsumer) have settled their case. Law360 report. My prior blog post on a preliminary ruling in this case. I blog about settlements only occasionally, but I thought this settlement was interesting for two…
Engaging Facebook Friends Doesn’t Violate Non-Solicitation Clause–Invidia v. DiFonzo
By Eric Goldman Invidia, LLC, v. Maren DiFonzo, 2012 WL 5576406 (Mass. Super. Ct. Oct. 22, 2012) Let me start with a baseline proposition: we in California have it so much better than the rest of the country because employer-employee…
Court Orders Password Turnover and In Camera Review of Social Media Accounts – EEOC v. Original Honeybaked Ham Co.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] EEOC v. Original Honeybaked Ham Co. of Georgia, Inc., 11 cv 02560 MSK MEH (D. Col. Nov. 7, 2012) This was a lawsuit brought by the EEOC on behalf of 20-22 persons who were allegedly subject…