Want An Enforceable Online Contract? Don’t Use A Footer Link Called “Reference”–Zajac v. Walker
This lawsuit involves the purchase of items I don’t understand. Let’s just call them “thingies.” The buyer Zajac needed thingies with an appropriate rating. It bought the thingies from a distributor, Walker, then realized the thingies didn’t have the appropriate…
Priceline Avoids Liability For Resort Fees Due To Its Onsite Disclosures–Singer v. Priceline
This is a lawsuit alleging that Priceline improperly failed to disclose “resort fees” in connection with its Name Your Own Price service. The service allowed consumers to name a price (bid a dollar amount) for a hotel in a given…
Internet Troll’s “Political Shenanigans” Are Protected Speech–State v. Hirschman (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Prof. Jane Bambauer, University of Arizona James E. Rodgers College of Law Aaron Hirschman, a self-proclaimed “Internet troll,” posted the following message on Craigslist: Wanna make an easy $20 for voting? (Downtown Bend) Are you interested in…
Courts Approve Terms of Service-Based Arbitration Clauses for Uber and Groupon
[Note: this is part 2 of TOS Arbitration Day. You can access Eric’s post from this morning here.] Online terms, and in particular arbitration clauses, have been subject to attack by plaintiffs’ lawyers. News reports have also raised the specter…
“Modified Clickwrap” Upheld In Court–Moule v. UPS
[Eric’s introduction: today Venkat and I are “celebrating” (?) TOS Arbitration Day here at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog. Independently, we each drafted blog posts about arbitration clauses in terms of service–covering different cases! We could have combined the…
Ted Cruz’s Presidential Campaign Apparently Committed Copyright Infringement. Oops.
I know it may be my own idiosyncratic and romanticized view of governance, but I hold politicians to a higher standard when it comes to knowing, and complying with, the law. After all, if the people in charge of making…
Q2 2016 Quick Links, Part 4 (Marketing, Privacy, Contracts)
Advertising/Marketing * Google will no longer run ads for payday lenders. * GALA: Brazil Enacts New Ambush Marketing Laws in Advance of Rio 2016 Olympic Games * Slate: The Do Not Call list was supposed to defeat telemarketers. Now scammy…
Employees Bound By Clickthrough Agreements–ADP v. Lynch
An employer sued two departing employees for joining a competitor. The employer sought to enforce, among other things, a non-compete clause (the court calls it a restrictive covenant). The employer included the non-compete provision in stock option grant documentation presented…
Scraping Lawsuit Survives Dismissal Motion–CouponCabin v. Savings.com
We blog pretty much every scraping case we see; we just don’t see many of them. As I’ve told you before, scraping is ubiquitous but of dubious legality. Today’s case reiterates just how hard it is for scrapers to win…
WTF Is Going On With Section 230?–Cross v. Facebook
It’s been a tough year for Section 230. In one case after another, I’ve had to “explain away” Section 230 losses: * Doe #14 v. ModelMayhem. The 9th Circuit embraced a dubious “failure to warn” exception to Section 230. *…