New Cyberlaw Fad–Real Estate Developers v. Griping Homebuyers
By Eric Goldman We appear to be seeing a mini-trend of homebuilders suing griping homebuyers. Overlawyered’s Walter Olson succinctly aggregated some cases, including: * RSA Enterprises v. Bad Business Bureau and Google, a lawsuit doomed to failure (at least in…
Tur v. YouTube SJ Motions Denied
By Eric Goldman Tur v. YouTube, # cv-06-4436 (C.D. Cal. summary judgment motions denied June 20, 2007). In the lawsuit by photojournalist Tur against YouTube, the judge has denied cross-motions for summary judgment based on 512(c). Tur’s motion (that YouTube…
Roommates.com Update
By Eric Goldman As I’m sure you know, I am not a fan of the recent Ninth Circuit hairball opinion in the Roommates.com case. In discussions since the opinion was issued, most of my lawyers I’ve spoken with have no…
Lawyer Rating Service Sued–Browne v. Avvo
By Eric Goldman Browne v. Avvo, CV7 920 (W.D. Wash. complaint filed June 14, 2007) You may have heard about Avvo, the latest entrant in the suddenly crowded field of lawyer ratings/rankings. Avvo pulls together a variety of third party…
AutoAdmit Fiasco Turns Into a Lawsuit–Doe v. Ciolli
By Eric Goldman Doe v. Ciolli, 307CV00909 CFD (D. Conn. complaint filed June 11, 2007) AutoAdmit is a message board for law students and related groupies. It’s a relatively untamed corner of cyberspace. The site owners have espoused a relatively…
More Defendants Lose 230 Defense
By Eric Goldman On the heels of the Roommates.com train wreck, two more defendants have had their 47 USC 230 defenses rejected. Interestingly, both cases come out of Tennessee federal courts in the Sixth Circuit–not normally known as a problem…
May 2007 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Spam * MySpace Inc. v. The Globe.com Inc., No. CV 06-3391 RGK (C.D. Cal. Feb. 27, 2007). This case has some personal interest because theglobe.com was one of my flagship clients before I left the law firm…
Steinbuch v. Culter Update: Cox Out, Cutler Bankrupt
By Eric Goldman Two updates in the always-interesting Steinbuch v. Cutler case. 1) Steinbuch v. Cutler, No. 05-970 (D.D.C. May 16, 2007). Ana Marie Cox, the Wonkette blogger–who was brought into the suit merely for linking to the allegedly tortious…
Perfect 10 v. CCBill Update: Ninth Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing
By Eric Goldman The Ninth Circuit has denied an en banc rehearing in Perfect 10 v. CCBill. In doing so, the court amended its opinion to reinforce that it really, really meant that 47 USC 230 preempts all state IP…
Summary of Perfect 10 Decision
By John Ottaviani Eric suggested that I post this brief summary of the Perfect 10 v. Amazon decision: The 9th Circuit issued a lengthy opinion today, largely favorable to search engines and ISP’s. In 2006, the district court made its…