It’s Not Possible To Steal Facebook ‘Likes’–Mattocks v. BET
In 2008, Plaintiff Stacey Mattocks developed an (initially unofficial) Facebook page focusing on “The Game,” a television series initially aired on CW and later acquired by BET. In 2010, BET contacted Mattocks and hired her as a part-time worker, paying…
What’s a Browsewrap? The Ninth Circuit Sure Doesn’t Know–Nguyen v. Barnes & Noble
This is a lawsuit over Barnes & Noble’s alleged failure to honor its closeout advertisements for Hewlett-Packard Touchpads. (Coverage of the district court ruling here: “Barnes & Noble’s Online Contract Formation Process Fails–Nguyen v. Barnes & Noble.” Plaintiff (Nguyen) placed an…
Fair Use Likely Protects Discussion of Blog Post and Comments
This is a lawsuit between pro se parties. As the court notes, the feud between the parties largely took place online, but eventually “found its way into federal court”. Plaintiff is the publisher the “Hogewash!” blog. Defendant is a “retired…
Conviction for Posting Pages From Teenager’s Diary Via Mail and Facebook Partially Reversed
The defendant, Teri Buhl, was prosecuted under a bizarre set of facts. Buhl, a journalist, was in a relationship with P (the opinion does not identify him, but Buhl’s account of the case, linked below, does). P’s daughter kept a…
Employee’s Discrimination Claim Can’t be Salvaged by Coworker’s Allegedly Inappropriate Facebook Post — Brown v Tyson Foods
This is another firing-for-Facebooking case. Plaintiff was an hourly employee in Tyson’s Nashville facility. In September 2012 she was initially suspended after a video surfaced of her “shaking her tail” and placing money in the shirt of a male co-worker….
When Is It Appropriate For Teachers To Call Students “Rat-Like” or “Dunderheads” in a Pseudonymous Blog? Never.
Natalie Munroe was a teacher in Central Bucks School District. She received good reviews over the years. In 2009, she started a blog, Where are we going, and why are we in this hand basket? (last post, April 2014) She blogged as…
Minors’ Privacy Claims Against Viacom and Google Over Disclosure of Video Viewing Habits Dismissed
Plaintiffs alleged that Viacom and Google violated the Video Privacy Protection Act and other federal and state privacy laws by improperly collecting and passing along information when end users (kids) viewed videos or games at Viacom-owned websites (nick.com, nickjr.com, and…
Lawsuit Over Google’s Unified Privacy Policy Pared Down, But Two Claims Survive
This is a lawsuit against Google for “commingling user data across different Google products.” Under the policy in effect before March 2012, information collected in one particular Google product was not automatically combined with information from another product. This changed…
TCPA Claim Against Taco Bell Fails For Lack of Agency
I mentioned before that a court said Taco Bell wasn’t liable for texts sent on its behalf because the plaintiff didn’t adequately allege the sender was Taco Bell’s agent (See “Franchisor Isn’t Liable Under the TCPA for Franchisees’ Text Message…
Lawyer’s Suit Over “Professional Recognition” Spam Flops
Say you’re a lawyer and you receive a promotional email intimating that you’re one of the “Top Lawyers in California.” You probably just delete it and move on, right? That would be too easy. Nicholas Bontrager sued Showmark alleging that…