How Long Does a Post-Mortem Right of Publicity Last?–Hebrew University v. GM (Guest Blog Post)
by Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa The right of publicity is a state-law right to use one’s identity for a commercial purpose. Thus, if you want to use a celebrity’s name or image in an advertisement, you have to get his…
Q3 2012 Quick Links, Part 4 (Facebook, Content Regulation)
By Eric Goldman and Jake McGowan Facebook * Facebook settles “Friend Finder” lawsuit. Prior blog post. * Two girls, ages 12 and 13, face felony for creating a fake Facebook account. * Facebook says ‘Likes’ are Free Speech in Sheriff…
Ninth Circuit Says Yellow Pages are Entitled to Full First Amendment Protection–Dex v. Seattle
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Dex Media West v. Seattle, Nos. 11-35399 & 35787 (9th Cir. Oct. 15, 2012) [pdf] The City of Seattle thought that Yellow Pages were not particularly useful and created unnecessary waste, so…
Employee’s Twitter Rant Means He Doesn’t Get Unemployment Benefits–Burns v. UCBR
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Burns v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review, No. 1268 C.D. 2011 (Commonwealth Ct. Pa. Oct. 16, 2012) It’s almost become cliché to cite to examples of people fired due to their social media posts, but here…
Q3 2012 Quick Links, Part 3 (Advertising, Privacy, Consumer Protection)
By Eric Goldman and Jake McGowan Advertising * Marketing Land: Google Results Position: How Much is First Place Really Worth? * Tom O’Toole recaps the ubiquity of text messaging marketing by NHL teams…and their need to clean up their privacy…
Q3 2012 Quick Links, Part 2 (Copyright)
By Eric Goldman and Jake McGowan * Horrifying video evidence that the police probably grossly misused their police power to arrest Kim Dotcom. Related: Timothy Lee: Feds: We Can Freeze Megaupload Assets Even if Case Dismissed. My prior blog post….
9th Circuit Zings Best Buy Over Robocalls – Chesbro v. Best Buy
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with a comment from Eric] Chesbro v. Best Buy Stores, L.P., No. 11-35784 (9th Cir. Oct. 17, 2012) [pdf] The Ninth Circuit has issued a few consumer-favorable rulings in the unsolicited text and phone call realm….
A Reward Offer Still An Offer, Even if It’s Made on YouTube – Augstein v. Ryan Leslie
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Augstein v. Leslie, 2012 WL 4928914 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 17, 2012). As the post’s title implies, this case is about a reward offer that the plaintiff is trying to enforce. Ryan Leslie, a…
A Dark Side of Data Portability: Litigators Love It (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman In re White Tail Oilfield Services, L.L.C., 2012 WL 4857777 (E.D. La. Oct. 11, 2012) Cloud services are great, but they pose a number of challenges for users. For example, users may legitimately fear that vendors will…
$1 Billion Pro Se Privacy Lawsuit Against Google Fails–Shah v. MyLife
By Eric Goldman Shah v. MyLife.Com, Inc., 2012 WL 4863696 (D. Or. September 21, 2012) (magistrate’s report and recommendations). On October 11, 2012, the judge approved the magistrate’s report only on subject matter and personal jurisdiction grounds. The initial complaint….