Court Rejects Bizarre Attempt To Scrub Consumer Review–Goren v. Ripoff Report
I previously blogged about this matter (see also Venkat’s update). A Massachusetts attorney, Goren, was unhappy about a user review of his law firm posted to Ripoff Report, which is well-known for not removing user posts. The plaintiffs sued the…
The “Browsewrap”/”Clickwrap” Distinction Is Falling Apart
It is somewhat surprising that, in 2015, courts are still hashing out online consumer contract formation issues. After all, the seminal case, Specht v. Netscape, was decided over a dozen years ago. Yet, a few recent cases show that companies often don’t…
Lawsuit Fails Over Ridesharing Service’s Disclosures To Its Analytics Service–Garcia v. Zimride
Plaintiff sued Lyft (and others) over privacy violations based on the allegedly improper disclosure of user information by the Zimride service. He alleged that he used the Zimride service, once owned by Lyft and now owned by Enterprise Holdings, and his…
Safeway Can’t Unilaterally Modify Online Terms Without Notice
This is a lawsuit against Safeway alleging that it charges slightly different (and higher) prices for items ordered online than purchased in-store. The court previously denied Safeway’s motion to dismiss and now grants summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs on…
Robert Half Can’t Stop Former Employees From Telling The World Where They Used To Work (Forbes Cross-Post)
As the saying goes, a business’ most important asset is its people. That maxim applies with extra force in the staffing industry, where people literally are its business. Perhaps that explains why Robert Half, a leading staffing company, uses an…
Facebook May be On the Hook for Scanning Private Messages for Links
This is a privacy lawsuit against Facebook: Plaintiffs allege that Facebook scans the content of their private messages, and if there is a link to a web page contained in that message, Facebook treats it as a “like” of the…
Bad Idea: Overdisclosing People’s Positive STD Status–Doe v. Successfulmatch
This is a privacy lawsuit brought by people who signed up for a dating site (Positive Singles) for people with STDs. Plaintiffs allege that Successfulmatch, the company that operates the site, made numerous privacy representations stating in its website copy…
Venue Clause in YouTube Terms of Service Upheld–Song Fi v. Google
This is a dispute over YouTube’s takedown of a music video. Song Fi, along with Rasta Rock, Joeseph Brotherton, and his six year old son, sued YouTube for taking down their video titled “LuvYa LuvYa LuvYa.” YouTube said it removed…
Congress May Crack Down On Businesses’ Efforts To Ban Consumer Reviews (Forbes Cross-Post)
Imagine a dentist telling her patients that they can’t write online reviews about her. Or a hotel deducting money from a newly married couple’s security deposit if any member of the wedding party blasts the hotel on Yelp. These types…
Jointly Editable Online Document Doesn’t Provide Evidence of Contract Formation–Turner v. Temptu
The litigants discussed working together to launch a new product in the marketplace. As seems to be inevitable in situations like this, the parties’ relationship fell out. Trying to salvage something from the situation, Turner alleged the parties had formed…