Viacom Sues YouTube
By Eric Goldman Viacom International, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. (SDNY complaint filed March 13, 2007). Complaint available here. After public saber-rattling by Viacom and significant negotiations between the parties, Viacom finally pulled the trigger and sued YouTube for copyright infringement….
Affiliate Spam Liability is Fact Question–US v. Cyberheat
By Eric Goldman U.S. v. Cyberheat, Inc., 2007 WL 686678 (D. Ariz. March 2, 2007) This case deals with one of the great unresolved Cyberlaw questions: when is an online advertiser liable for the downstream behavior of its media outlets?…
February 2007 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman * The California Highway Patrol (which, for reasons unclear to me, has investigatory power here) has concluded that the Angelides campaign did not break any laws when they reverse-guessed URLs on Schwarzenegger’s website and found an unrestricted…
Lycos Not Liable for Objectionable Message Board Posting–Universal Communication Systems v. Lycos
By Eric Goldman Universal Communication Systems, Inc. v. Lycos, Inc., 2007 WL 549111 (1st Cir. Feb. 23, 2007) 47 USC 230 Just last week, I said that we no longer see lawsuits where plaintiffs sue a message board provider for…
Rescuecom v. Google Law Professors’ Amicus Brief
By Eric Goldman Rescuecom v. Google, 06-4881-CV (2nd Cir., law professors’ amicus brief filed February 22, 2007) Eighteen law professors submitted an amicus brief in the Rescuecom v. Google case, urging the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm the…
MSN Wins 47 USC 230 Case (Easily)–Eckert v. Microsoft
By Eric Goldman Eckert v. Microsoft Corp., 2007 WL 496692 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 13, 2007) We don’t see these cases any more. Man gets defamed on online message board and receives harassing messages through an online messaging tool, so he…
MySpace Suit for Liability for Sexual Assault Dismissed
By John Ottaviani Doe v. MySpace, Inc., No. A-06-CA983-SS (W.D. Tex. 2/13/2007). “If anyone had a duty to protect Julie Doe, it was her parents, not MySpace.” (Sparks, J.) This is a HUGE win for MySpace! Plaintiff’s negligence and gross…
Humane Society Barks at the Wrong Defendant–Humane Society v. Amazon
By Eric Goldman The Humane Society of the United States v. Amazon.com (DC Superior Ct complaint filed February 8, 2007) I’m going to start this post with two (relatively uncharacteristic for me) moralistic assertions that I think are largely beyond…
Ezor on Email Blocklists
By Eric Goldman Jonthan Ezor has posted a short paper (10 pages + endnotes), Busting Blocks: Appropriate Legal Remedies For Wrongful Inclusion In Spam Filters Under U.S. Law, to SSRN. This article deals with thorny issues created by email blocklist…
Advertisers Settle NY Anti-Adware Action
By Eric Goldman Earlier this week, the New York Attorney General’s (NYAG) office issued a press release with the blazing all caps headline: GROUNDBREAKING SETTLEMENTS HOLD ONLINE ADVERTISERS RESPONSIBLE FOR DISPLAYING ADS THROUGH DECEPTIVELY INSTALLED “ADWARE” PROGRAMS Groundbreaking…or groundless? After…