No Claim Based on Perez Hilton’s Publication of Unsolicited but Inflammatory Reader Email – Wargo v. Lavandeira
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Wargo v. Lavandeira, JAMS Arbitration No. 1220041183 (Mar. 24, 2013) Lavandeira runs the popular Perez Hilton website, which has been involved in its fair share of legal disputes. In response to an item (presumably about Angelina…
FTC Warns Nordstrom Over Tweetup Freebies
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] The FTC conducted an investigation on Nordstrom’s marketing and promotion in connection with a “tweetup” held in Boise. Apparently Nordstrom provided free gifts to “influencers”, including $50 gift cards to Nordstrom Rack. [Sadly, I did not…
Judge Boots Privacy Lawsuit Against Pandora but Plaintiffs Can Replead – Yunker v. Pandora
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Yunker v Pandora Media, Inc., 2013 US Dist LEXIS 42691 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 26, 2013) Pandora has been sued before for allegedly revealing listening preferences, but this is a more run-of-the-mill privacy lawsuit against Pandora. Pandora…
The Supreme Court’s Kirtsaeng Ruling Is Good News for Consumers, but the First Sale Doctrine Is Still Doomed–Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, No. 11–697 (U.S. Supreme Court March 19, 2013). Prior blog post of the Second Circuit ruling in the case. In Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons ($JW-A), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled…
Another Credit Card Breach Lawsuit Fails – Willingham v. Global Payments
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Willingham v. Global Payments, Inc., 12-CV-01157 (N.D. Ga. Feb 5, 2013) (case later dismissed by the parties) This is a data breach lawsuit arising out of an incident in which credit card information was purloined from…
IMDB’s Disclosure of Actress’s Age Will Go To Trial – Hoang v. Amazon
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment by Eric] Hoang v. IMDb.com, C11-1709MJP (W.D. Wash. Mar. 18, 2013) We’ve blogged about this dispute—involving an actress’s attempt to hold IMDb liable for publishing her age against her wishes—before. The court recently…
Court Rejects Attempt to Hold Software Company Liable for Surveillance Conducted by Its Customer – Luis v. Zang
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Luis v. Zang, 12 cv 629 (S.D. Oh. Mar. 5, 2013) Divorces have spawned some of the most interesting privacy disputes, such as the cases involving whether GPS surveillance of a vehicle violated one spouse’s privacy…
Court Dismisses Data Breach Lawsuit Against LinkedIn Based on Compromised Passwords – In re LinkedIn User Privacy Litigation
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re LinkedIn User Privacy Litigation, 2013 WL 844291 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 5, 2013) [pdf] LinkedIn suffered a data breach in 2012. Someone allegedly posted 6.5 million passwords and email addresses from LinkedIn users on the…
Amazon’s Merchandising of Its Search Results Doesn’t Violate Trademark Law (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Multi Time Machine, Inc. v. Amazon.com, 2013 WL 638888 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 20, 2013). The complaint. No retailer does a better job of cross-selling to its customers than Amazon.com ($AMZN). Amazon is quite effective at exposing customers to…
California Supreme Court: Retail Privacy Statute Doesn’t Apply to Download Transactions – Apple v Superior Court (Krescent)
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Apple v. Superior Court ex rel Krescent, S199384 (Cal. Sup. Ct. Feb. 4, 2013) In a divided ruling, the California Supreme Court held that California’s privacy statute restricting retailers from collecting personal…