Backpage Gets TRO Against Washington Law Attempting to Bypass Section 230–Backpage v. McKenna
By Eric Goldman Backpage.com, LLC v. McKenna, 2:12-cv-00954-RSM (W.D. Wash. June 5, 2012). The complaint. Backpage’s TRO motion. As part of states’ ongoing crusade against online prostitution ads, earlier this year Washington enacted SB 6251, captioned “Regulating advertising of commercial…
Satirical Anti-Birther Blog Post Protected by DC’s Anti-SLAPP Law–Farah v. Esquire
By Eric Goldman Farah v. Esquire Magazine, Inc., 2012 WL 1970897 (D.D.C. June 4, 2012). TPM coverage. Joseph Farah is CEO/editor of WorldNetDaily, and Jerome Corsi is a senior staff reporter there. WorldNetDaily has published hundreds of stories on Birther…
PissedConsumer Denied Section 230 Immunity and Can’t Shake Extortion Claim—Vo v. Opinion Corp.
By Eric Goldman Vo Group v. Opinion Corp., 8758/11 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. May 22, 2012) PissedConsumer is a consumer review site occupying the same market niche as Ripoff Report. It only wants negative consumer reviews of businesses (as signaled by…
Illinois Supreme Court Says Woman Deceived by Fake Online Relationship Can’t Sue for Misrepresentation -– Bonhomme v. St. James
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Bohomme v. St. James, 2012 IL 112393 (May 24, 2012) Most people take for granted that people aren’t 100% truthful when interacting online. On one end of the spectrum, people make misstatements that are widely acknowledged…
What Are Appropriate Compensatory Damages for 3 Fake Competitor Reviews? The Surprising Answer–Fireworks Restoration v. Hosto
By Eric Goldman The Fireworks Restoration Company v. Hosto, ED97181 (Mo. App. Ct. May 9, 2012) Hosto and Mitchell formed two companies together. Eventually, the relationship soured, and they acrimoniously split their empire. Still grousy, Hosto (pretending to be former…
Facebook Post and Blog Entry About Judicial Endorsement Held to be Defamatory — Lewis v. Rapp
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Lewis v. Rapp, COA11-1188 (N.C. Ct. App.; May 1, 2012) Lewis was a senior judge in North Carolina who was running for re-election. Lewis was also a vocal supporter of William Rabon who was a state…
Doctors’ Online Reputation Management and Patient Reviews (Talk Notes from ASAPS Annual Meeting)
By Eric Goldman I recently spoke at the annual meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS) in Vancouver, BC. This is not a normal conference venue for me! (And given the number of fashion-conscious people at the…
A Twitter Exception for Defamation?
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] William Charron pubished a short piece for the Berkeley Journal of Entertainment and Sports Law that caught my eye (“Twitter: A “Caveat Emptor” Exception to Libel Law” [pdf]). His central point: Twitter’s characteristics and limitations should…
The Dangerous Meme That Won’t Go Away: Using Copyright Assignments to Suppress Unwanted Content–Scott v. WorldStarHipHop
By Eric Goldman Scott v. WorldStarHipHop, Inc., 2012 WL 1592229 (S.D.N.Y. May 3, 2012) Copyright law wasn’t designed as a privacy enhancing doctrine, but sometimes plaintiffs try to repurpose copyright law anyway. This case is an interesting illustration of how…
An Unmasking Effort Gets Gutted Some More – Art of Living Foundation v. Does
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Art of Living Foundation v. Does, 10-cv-05022-LHK (N.D. Cal.; May 1, 2012) I posted earlier about the Art of Living Foundation’s (AOLF) efforts to unmask online critics (posting psueudonymously as ‘Skywalker’ and ‘Klim’). In early rulings,…