Request for Help: Doctor v. Patient Lawsuits Over Online Reviews
By Eric Goldman I’m doing some research, and I’m hoping you can help. I’m trying to comprehensively catalog doctor vs. patient lawsuits over online reviews of the doctor. I’m equally interested in suits by other health care professionals; I’ve noticed…
Blogger Can Display County Seal in Blog Posts–Rothamel v. Fluvanna County
By Eric Goldman Rothamel v. Fluvanna County, Va., 2011 WL 3878313 (W.D. Va. Sept. 2, 2011) I don’t use images on this blog, but many bloggers include images to help illustrate their posts. It’s not uncommon, then, for bloggers to…
Reflections on the DOJ-Google Half-Billion Deal over Illegal Pharma Ads (July-August 2011 Quick Links, Part 2)
By Eric Goldman I haven’t previously written on the DOJ’s bust of Google over illegal pharmaceutical ads, partially because I couldn’t reconcile my views about this enforcement action. From my vantage point, this action equally fits into two dichotomous stories,…
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…
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…
Consumer Reviews at “Local” Review Sites Don’t Support Jurisdiction–Wilkerson v. RSL
By Eric Goldman Wilkerson v. RSL Funding, LLC, 2011 WL 3516147 (Tex. App. Ct. Aug. 11, 2011) It doesn’t bring me a lot of joy to blog another Internet jurisdiction case, but the dispute’s substantive issues are important enough to…
A Close Look at Missouri’s “Amy Hestir Student Protection Act” (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Sydney Muray, Certified Paralegal In the 1980s, a 12-year-old girl named Amy Hestir was manipulated by her seven-grade music teacher into an abusive sexual relationship that lasted over a year. While Amy suffered severe emotional trauma as…
Racy Teen Photos Posted to Facebook Are Constitutionally Protected Speech–TV v. Smith-Green
By Eric Goldman T.V. v. Smith-Green Community School Corp., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88403 (N.D. Ind. Aug. 10, 2011). It appears we will get a steady stream of legal rulings about teens being teens while playing around with Facebook accounts….
Defamation Claim Over Stock Board Discussion Easily Dismissed–Desai v. Clark
By Eric Goldman Desai v. Clark, 2011 WL 3359971 (N.D.Cal. August 2, 2011) I’ve been seeing a steady stream of defamation and related claims over discussions in stock message boards. This case is representative of what I’m seeing. Ketan Desai…
Newspaper’s Discussion About Trademark Owner Protected as Nominative Use–1 800 GET THIN v. Hiltzik
By Eric Goldman 1 800 GET THIN v. Hiltzik, 2:11-cv-00505-ODW -E (C.D. Cal. July 25, 2011) I’m sure any trademark experts reading this post are scratching their heads at the blog post title. Newspapers discussing a trademarked product qualify for…