Story Byline May Affect Section 230 Immunity–AdvanFort v. Maritime Executive
I previously blogged this case in May. The underlying facts involve the arrest and ultimate release of a ship’s crew that was armed to combat piracy. I’ll focus just on the Section 230 issue. A person involved in the underlying…
Two 512(f) Rulings Where The Litigants Dispute Copyright Ownership
When is it appropriate to send copyright takedown notices in the midst of an underlying battle over who owns the copyright? This issue is coming up with increasing frequency, as takedown notices can create more battlefronts for the parties to…
DMCA 512(c) Formalities Strike Again–BWP v. Hollywood Fan Sites
I previously blogged this case, so see my earlier post for background. This week’s ruling focuses purely on the 512(c) safe harbor’s requirement that online services designate an agent for service of notice with the Copyright Office. Defendant #1 can…
Q2 2015 Quick Links, Part 2 (Censorship and More)
Content Regulation * Oxera: The economic impact of safe harbours on Internet intermediary start-ups * South Korea is mandating that all cellphones sold to minors have an app called “Smart Sheriff” that censors their online experience. What could possibly go…
Section 230(c)(2) Gets No Luv From the Courts–Song Fi v. Google
This is one of several pending cases where a video poster sues YouTube for allegedly wrongful takedown of the video. I find these cases fascinating because I always wonder how there’s enough money at issue to justify litigation. Unfortunately, I…
Doing Online Reputation Management? Don’t Do It This Way (Forbes Cross-Post)
Recently, I got two identical emails from info@infringex.com sending me a “Notice of Infringement of Defamation.” The notice informs me that a 2012 blog post–written by my perma-guest blogger, Venkat–makes public comments about the purported sender. It further says that…
Online Magazine Gets Section 230 Protection For Third Party Article–AdvanFort v. International Registries
If I didn’t practice Internet law, I might have chosen maritime law. Their disputes are often interesting. This particular case sounds like a movie plotline. AdvanFort provides armed guards to ships worried about piracy (the real kind…you know, on the…
Ripoff Report Gets Easy Section 230 Win In Third Circuit–Obado v. Magedson
This was a really interesting pro se challenge to Section 230. The lower court opinion contained all kinds of gems, including holding that Section 230 applies to Google’s autocomplete and to allegations of search engine manipulation. The Third Circuit’s opinion…
Blogger Isn’t Liable For Anonymous Reader Comments–Mezzacappa v. O’Hare
Bernie O’Hare ran a blog called “Lehigh Valley Ramblings.” I’m focusing on the court’s treatment of four anonymous comments posted in response to O’Hare’s blogging about Tricia Mezzacappa. In general, bloggers aren’t liable for reader comments per Section 230. See…
More Section 230 Cases Than I Can Handle!
My cup runneth over with Section 230 cases! This long blog post catches up on a few from the past couple months. Warning: there are some stinkers in this batch. Google, Inc. v. Hood, 2015 WL 1546160 (S.D. Miss. March…