Marquette Joins BSA’s DefineTheLine.com Initiative
Marquette’s Announcement Marquette sent out the following announcement yesterday: “Marquette is participating in the launch of “Define the Line,” a national program aimed at discouraging illegal sharing and downloading of software. The program calls upon students, faculty and staff to…
Happy Mother’s Day from Your Loving Son (and Your Friendly FTC Bureaucrat)
Nothing tells your mom that you love her like an e-card with soft piano music, floating butterflies, pretty wildflowers…and some consumer protection tips from the FTC. Thanks to the Washington Post for the pointer.
Download.com Becomes Adware Bundle-Free Zone
Download.com has declared itself adware bundle-free—all downloads from Download.com will be certified not to be bundled with adware. Personally, I think this step goes a little far. Many of the software programs offered on Download.com are shareware or freeware, so…
ICANN’s Domain Name Tax on .Jobs and .Travel
I missed this before—perhaps I wasn’t the only one. ICANN has repeatedly attempted to impose a “tax” on domain names. This was first proposed back in 1999 and again at the end of 2004. Now, at the end of March,…
Widmaier on Internet Trademark Law
Uli Widmaier of Pattishall, McAuliffe, Newbury, Hilliard & Geraldson LLP has written an important new article, Use, Liability, and the Structure of Trademark Law, 33 Hofstra L. Rev. 603 (2004). The article makes a persuasive argument why keyword triggering should…
Adware Vendor Sued by New York Attorney General
New York v. Intermix Media (complaint filed April 28, 2005). Elliott Spitzer has sued software vendor Intermix Media (formerly eUniverse) for violations of New York’s consumer protection act, false advertising and common law trespass to chattels based on Intermix’s “spyware/adware.”…
Is Camcordering Ever Legitimate?
I exchanged emails with Ed Foster regarding the anti-camcordering portion of the ART Act. Ed expressed concerns about the proportionality of criminalizing camcordering, and he has a point. Merely recording a movie is not, by itself, harmful. At worst, camcordering…
Bush Signs Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005
Not surprisingly, Pres. Bush signed the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 into law today. My critiques on film skipping and new criminal sanctions. UPDATE: Fred von Lohmann offers his characteristically clear-headed perspective on the Family Entertainment and Copyright…
Walmart Foundation Uses Copyright to Curtail Griper
The Walmart Foundation has gone after the gripe site “walmart-foundation.org” using 512(c)(3) notices to take down images that the griper took from walmartfoundation.org. A few observations about this: * copyright is an extremely effective tool against gripers. Using a 512(c)(3)…
Dead Tree Version of Click Fraud–Shorewest Realty v. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel sued for alleged circulation count fraud. UPDATE: Not surprisingly, the Journal-Sentinel has denied the charge. UPDATE #2: July response by the Journal-Sentinel. Then, on August 26, Shorewest alleges that the Journal-Sentinel “reimbursed carriers to buy extra copies of…