Egregious/Overreaching Ex Parte Orders for Rightsowners Keep Coming — Deckers and Richemont
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Deckers v. Liyanghua, 11-cv-07970 (N.D. Ill.; Dec. 15, 2011) (report and recommendation) Deckers proceeds against a slew of domain names in Illinois. The case was originally sealed, but in granting a preliminary…
Copyright Doe Defendant Can’t Quash Disclosure Subpoena Anonymously—Hard Drive Productions v. Does (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Elliott Alderman with brief comments from Eric [Eric’s introductory note: Elliott Alderman is an IP attorney in Washington DC. I asked if he could guest-blog this opinion after calling it to my attention.] Hard Drive Productions, Inc….
Attempted Trademark Workaround to 47 USC 230 Immunity Fails Badly—Ascentive v. PissedConsumer [Catch-Up Post]
By Eric Goldman [This is one of the top dozen or so most important Internet law opinions of 2011, but unfortunately it came out just as I was going into my exam-grading exile and I had to put blogging it…
Some Thoughts About Google Search Plus Your World (SPYW)
By Eric Goldman [Normally I don’t like to blog about these types of newsy product releases, especially when the facts are still being developed. However, I have spoken with some reporters about Search Plus Your World (see, e.g., this article…
An Update on PhoneDog v. Kravitz, the Employee Twitter Account Case
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] PhoneDog v. Kravitz, No. C 11-03474 MEJ (N.D. Cal.) (Amended Complaint) (Motion to Dismiss) (PhoneDog Opposition) (Kravitz’s Reply) In November, the court allowed PhoneDog’s claims against Kravitz for conversion and trade secrets to proceed. (“Courts Says…
TheDirty Denied 47 USC 230 Immunity–Jones v. Dirty World
By Eric Goldman Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment Recordings, LLC, 2012 WL 70426 (E.D. Ky. Jan. 10, 2012). Prior blog post on this case. A Kentucky federal judge rejected 47 USC 230 immunity for thedirty.com for third-party content. It’s entirely…
Mass Ct: ZIP Code is Personal Identification Info Under Credit Card Statute But Plaintiff Must Still Allege Harm — Tyler v. Michaels Stores
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Tyler v. Michaels Stores, Inc., 2012 WL 32208 (D. Mass.; Jan. 6, 2012) Last year, the California Supreme Court held that a ZIP Code is personal identification information for purposes of a statute which restricted the…
Updates on Transborder Copyright Enforcement Over “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”–Shropshire v. Canning
By Eric Goldman Shropshire v. Canning, 2012 WL 13658 (N.D.Cal. Jan. 4, 2012). Prior blog post. This dispute involves complicated facts, so here’s my understanding of what’s happening: The lawsuit involves the musical composition “Grandma Got Run Over by a…
Trademark Owner Can’t Hold GoDaddy Liable for Domain Name Forwarding — Berhad v. GoDaddy
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Berhad v. GoDaddy, C 09-5939 PJH (N.D. Cal.; Jan. 3, 2012) Plaintiff, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), a government owned entity, owns the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. It’s trying to enforce its trademark rights against two domain…
Did a Court Eliminate 512(h) Subpoenas?–Maximized Living v. Google
By Eric Goldman with additional comments from David Gingras Maximized Living, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 2011 WL 6749017 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 22, 2011). The initial 512(h) subpoena. The Justia page. 17 USC 512(h) is a relic of a different era….