LiveJournal Wins 512(c) Safe Harbor Ruling For Celebrity Gossip Blog–Mavrix v. LiveJournal
This case involves a LiveJournal blog called “Oh No They Didn’t!” (ONTD) that republishes reader submissions about celebrity gossip. There are nine moderators of the blog, including one–Brian Delzer–who became a LiveJournal employee. Unsurprisingly given the blog’s subject, readers submitted…
Urban Outfitters’ Kent State T-Shirt Was Offensive But Probably Legal (Guest Blog Post)
By Tyler Ochoa As reported in various news outlets (including MSN and New York magazine), Urban Outfitters generated a storm of controversy on Twitter a few days ago, when it was discovered that it was offering for sale a “vintage”…
Texas Supreme Court Limits Reach of Pre-suit Discovery (Guest Blog Post)
[Eric’s introduction: this guest blog post comes from Ed Cavazos of Bracewell & Giuliani in Austin, Texas, who I’ve known for 20 years. Ed was part of the first wave of lawyers and scholars focusing on Internet law, and he…
California Tells Businesses: Stop Trying To Ban Consumer Reviews (Forbes Cross-Post)
Increasingly, businesses are looking for ways to suppress or erase consumers’ negative online reviews of them. In particular, we’ve recently seen a proliferation of contract clauses purporting to stop consumers from reviewing businesses online. Those overreaching contract clauses have never…
Ninth Circuit Says Yelp Doesn’t Extort Businesses–Levitt v. Yelp (Forbes Cross-Post)
For years, Yelp has been dogged by allegations that it manipulates user reviews to coerce businesses to advertise with it. While businesses aren’t likely to stop grumbling about these concerns any time soon, a federal appellate court emphatically shut the…
Internet Law Professors Ask California Supreme Court To Review Pharmaceutical Liability Case
Hardin v. PDX is a quirky case that flew under the radar a bit. The case was brought by Hardin, a victim injured by bad drug interactions. She claims that she would have avoided the interaction if she had been…
Lock Manufacturer Onity Had Only One Job, But Isn’t Liable For Failing To Do It Well (Forbes Cross-Post)
Let’s start with two non-controversial propositions: (1) no lock offers perfect security, and (2) any lock that can be defeated by a “stupidly simple” method is functionally worthless. But can a buyer of a functionally worthless lock recover in court?…
Blogspot Gets Section 230 Win In 11th Circuit–Dowbenko v. Google
Another Section 230 case with a pro se plaintiff. Dowbenko claimed that that the “Encyclopedia of American Loons” website, located at http://americanloons.blogspot.com, contained a copyrighted photo of him and defamed him. The court says: Mr. Dowbenko’s defamation claim is preempted…
Section 230 Applies to Amazon Book Reviews–Joseph v. Amazon
As I’ve recently mentioned, many recent Section 230 rulings involve pro se plaintiffs because most lawyers have wizened up to Section 230’s immunity. In this case, Dr. Joseph, a pro se plaintiff, brings a long list of gripes about Amazon…
Online Marketplaces Facilitating Gun Sales Don’t Kill People. People Kill People (Forbes Cross-Post)
We’re seeing increasing attempts to hold online marketplaces responsible for illegal user transactions on their site. A recent federal appellate ruling rejected one such lawsuit involving an online gun marketplace transaction that led to a murder. What Happened After his…