How Congress Can Protect Online Consumer Reviews (An Assessment of the Consumer Review Freedom Act) (Forbes Cross-Post)
[Note: last Wednesday, I testified on the Consumer Review Freedom Act before the Senate Commerce Committee. My testimony. My complete written submission.] For many Americans, the First Amendment is the alpha and omega of free speech protection. However, the First…
Amazon AppStore and Google Play Defeat Lawsuit Over Infringing App Name–Free Kick Master v. Apple (Forbes Cross-Post)
Plaintiffs often target app stores for issues with third party apps. A recent court ruling in favor of Amazon’s AppStore and Google Play highlights the legal risks faced by app stores, as well as the benefits to consumers and society…
Call for Projects/Papers/Participation for Sixth Annual Internet Law Works-in-Progress, March 5, 2016
[Eric’s note: I’m passing along this invitation from Ari Ezra Waldman, who is running the 2016 edition of the Internet Law Works-in-Progress conference. Some background about the conference series. Due to my family situation, I still have placed a hold…
Another Censorial Copyright Case Results In a Big Fee Shift–Inglewood v. Teixeira
I recently wrote about Katz v. Chevaldina, where a real estate tycoon didn’t like a candid photo taken of him, so he bought the copyrights to the photo and sued a blogger to suppress the photo. The courts had no…
Why Attorneys Dislike Consumer Reviews (Reviewing an Article by Cassandra Burke Robertson)
I recently read an article by Prof. Cassandra Burke Robertson (Case Law) entitled “Online Reputation Management in Attorney Regulation.” This article discusses two of my favorite topics: (1) why do professional service providers struggle with online reviews more than other…
The Perkins v. LinkedIn Class Action Settlement Notification Was Badly Bungled (Forbes Cross-Post)
Recently, millions of LinkedIn users received an email titled “LEGAL NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION.” The email told recipients about a proposed class action settlement in Perkins v. LinkedIn, involving “LinkedIn’s alleged improper use of a service called ‘Add…
The Benefits Of Self-Publishing Electronic Casebooks (Forbes Cross-Post)
Recently, the Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts published an online symposium called “Disruptive Publishing Models.” The articles discuss different initiatives to disrupt the traditional model for publishing legal casebooks and how those initiatives are driving down students’ costs…
Chain of Title Proves Fatal to “Happy Birthday” Copyright Claim (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa “Happy Birthday” has been described as “The World’s Most Popular Song.” It is sung almost every time that people gather to celebrate a birthday. The “almost” in the previous sentence acknowledges that many restaurants direct…
Another Murky Opinion on Lawyers Buying Keyword Ads on Other Lawyers’ Names–In re Naert
I recently posted a co-authored article, Regulation of Lawyers’ Use of Competitive Keyword Advertising, discussing lawyers’ use of competitive keyword ads triggered by other lawyers’ names. That article examines both IP laws and attorney rules of professional conduct and explains…
You Can’t Buy A Copyright Just To Bury It–Katz v. Chevaldina (Forbes Cross-Post)
In the United States, copyright law principally serves as an economic policy by protecting creators’ ability to recoup the investments they make in generating new works that have value to society. As a result, copyright law gets weird when it’s…