Court Invalidates Agreement Governing Toyota’s Online Prank Contest — Duick v. Toyota
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Duick v. Toyota, B224839 (Ca Ct. App.; Aug. 31, 2011) Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi ran a marketing campaign where a visitor to the Toyota Matrix website could designate a separate person who would receive prank…
Marijuana Activist Can’t Change His Name to “NJWeedman.com” — In re Forchion
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with additional comments by guest blogger Laura Heymann and Eric] [Eric’s note: this may be our first post with *three* different bloggers covering the same case! Venkat starts us off:] In re Robert Edward Forchion, Jr.,…
Overreactive Guidance for Social Networking Du Jour — NLRB Edition
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] NLRB Memo – Memorandum OM 11-74 (Aug. 18, 2011) (“Report of the Acting General Counsel Concerning Social Media Cases”) There has been a steady drumbeat from employment lawyers warning about the increasingly watchful eye of the…
Seventh Circuit Awards e360 a Whopping $3 in Damages Against Spamhaus — e360 v. Spamhaus
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] e360 Insight, Inc. v. The Spamhaus Project, 10-3538 & 10-3539 (7th Cir. Sept. 2, 2011) The lawsuit between e360 and Spamhaus was a long-running, tortured affair, and it looks like it finally came to a close….
Second Circuit Says No First Sale Doctrine for Works Manufactured Outside the U.S. — Wiley & Sons v. Kirtsaeng
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Wiley & Sons, Inc. v. Kirtsaeng, 09-4896-cv (2nd Cir. Aug. 15, 2011) Wiley asserted copyright infringement claims against Kirtsaeng, who imported into the United States and sold “foreign editions” of Wiley textbooks. The books had legends…
Levi Strauss’s Trademark and Domain Name Claims May Block Unauthorized Resales — Levi Strauss v. Papikian
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Levi Strauss & Co v. Papikian Enterprises, C 10-05051 JSW (N.D. Cal.; Aug. 24, 2011) [pdf] Facts: Levi Strauss owns trademarks for “Levi’s,” “501” and other terms. It sells its products directly and to authorized retailers…
Claims Against Mylife.com for Allegedly Luring Users to Sign up Using “Your Friend is Looking for you” Emails Proceed — Clerkin v. Mylife
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Clerkin v. Mylife.com, C 11-00527 CW (N.D. Cal. Aug 15, 2011) I do not understand the lure of the “your friend is looking for you . . . sign up to our network to find out…
Court Affirms Robust ISP Protection For Blocking Bulk Emails — Holomaxx v. Microsoft/Yahoo
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Holomaxx v. Microsoft, 2011 WL 3740813 (N.D. Cal. Aug, 23, 2011) [pdf] Holomaxx v. Yahoo, 2011 WL 3740827 (N.D. Cal. Aug, 23, 2011) [pdf] Eric and I both previously posted on the Holomaxx cases, where Holomaxx…
Deep Packet Inspection Lawsuits: NebuAd Partner ISP Wins Summary Judgment — Kirch v. Embarq
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Kirch v. Embarq, 10-2047-JAR (D. Kan. Aug. 19, 2011) The fallout from Nebuad’s ill-fated deep packet inspection continues to percolate through the courts. Plaintiffs sued NebuAd and ISPs in the same forum…
Connecticut Court of Appeals Tackles Authentication of Facebook Messages — State v. Eleck
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] State v. Eleck, (AC 31581 (Conn. Ct. App. Aug 9, 2011) There have been several recent cases that deal with the authentication of social networking evidence. The Connecticut Court of Appeals recently tackled the issue of…