Viacom Loses Again–Viacom v. YouTube
By Eric Goldman Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube Inc., 2013 WL 1689071 (S.D.N.Y April 18, 2013) Persistence is a virtue, but stubbornness is a sin. I’m pretty sure Viacom has sinned a lot in its six years of litigation against…
Designing Optimal Immunities and Safe Harbors (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman [Note: this is one of those posts that languished in the queue for a few years. Depending on your response, I may decide to turn it into a lengthier academic paper. Please send me your thoughts!] You…
Another 512(f) Claim Fails–Tuteur v. Crosley-Corcoran
By Eric Goldman Tuteur v. Crosley-Corcoran, 2013 WL 1450930 (D. Mass. April 10, 2013). The complaint (page 5 shows the photo in question). We don’t see that many 17 USC 512(f) lawsuits over bogus copyright takedown noties, and we see…
Google Immunized for Its Search Results–Mmubango v. Google (Catch-up Post)
By Eric Goldman Mmubango v. Google, Inc., 2013 WL 664231 (E.D. Pa. February 22, 2013). The initial complaint. This is one of the many bogus pro se lawsuits over Google search results. Like the others, it goes nowhere (though the…
First Sale Doctrine Doesn’t Allow Resale of Digital Songs – Capitol Records v. ReDigi
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Capitol Records, LLC v. ReDigi Inc., 2013 WL 1286134 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2013) [There has been a recent whirlwind of copyright activity in the courts. We will try to get caught up…
More Confirmation That Google Has Won the AdWords Trademark Battles Worldwide (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman I’ve repeatedly asserted that the trademark battles over keyword advertising are near the end. As further evidence of that, recently Google ($GOOG) liberalized its international trademark policy for advertising via AdWords. Previously, Google allowed trademark owners…
Griping Blogger Protected by Fair Use But Not Section 230–Ascend Health v. Wells
By Eric Goldman Ascend Health Corp. v. Wells, 2013 WL 1010589 (E.D.N.C. March 14, 2013) Brenda Wells gripes about University Behavioral Health of Denton (“UBH”) at two blogs, which she promotes via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. UBH and related parties…
Building Owner Can’t Discover the Identity of Tenant Who Writes Bashing Yelp Review (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Brompton Building, LLC v. Yelp!, Inc., 2013 IL App (1st) 120547-U (Ill. App. Ct. Jan. 31, 2013) Battles over online anonymity aren’t new, and we’ve made a lot of progress clarifying the legal rules. Usually, when a…
Before Graduated Response, There Was BSA’s “Define the Line” Program. What Happened to It? (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Sruli Yellin [Eric’s introduction: with the imminent launch of the six strikes/graduated response program from the deceptively named Center for Copyright Information, I thought it might be worthwhile revisiting a prior effort by rightsowners to coopt Internet…
With Its Australian Court Victory, Google Moves Closer to Legitimizing Keyword Advertising Globally (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Google’s ($GOOG) keyword advertising program, AdWords, has been subject to constant legal challenges for the past decade. After an initial period of legal uncertainty, AdWords’ legal fortunes recently have brightened in the United States and Europe. Earlier this…