No Breach of Contract Claim from Mid-Stream Change of WSJ Online Pricing – Lebowitz v. Dow Jones
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Lebowitz v. Dow Jones & Co., 06 Civ. 2198 (MGC) (S.D.N.Y.; Mar. 12, 2012) Dow Jones operates WSJ Online. Historically, it offered WSJ Online subscribers access to WSJ Online and Barron’s Online. At some point, Dow…
Facebook’s “Browsewrap” Enforced Against Kids–EKD v. Facebook
By Eric Goldman E.K.D. v. Facebook, Inc., 3:12-cv-01216-JCS (S.D. Ill. March 8, 2012). The complaint. This opinion reaches two interesting conclusions. First, it says children-users can’t disaffirm Facebook’s terms of service (TOS) so long as they keep using the site….
Facebook and Zynga Privacy Litigation Dismissed With Prejudice [Catch up Post]
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Facebook Privacy Litigation, 10-02389 (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 22, 2011) In re Zynga Privacy Litigation, 10-04680 (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 22, 2011) These decisions are several months old, but they remain worth mentioning despite the fact…
Reidentification Theory Doesn’t Save Privacy Lawsuit–Steinberg v. CVS Caremark
By Eric Goldman Steinberg v. CVS Caremark Corp., 2012 WL 507807 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 16, 2012) CVS Caremark provided consumer data to pharma companies and data brokers. The plaintiffs alleged that the data transfers violated CVS’s privacy policies, but CVS…
Vendor Fails to Form Either an Online or Paper Contract With Customers–Kwan v. Clearwire
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Kwan v. Clearwire Corp., C09-1392JLR (W.D.Wash.; Jan. 3, 2012) Professor Goldman blogged recently about a case involving Facebook where the court enforced Facebook’s terms of use and based on a venue clause in Facebook’s terms transferred…
Judge Can’t Decide if Facebook’s User Agreement is a Browsewrap, But He Enforces It Anyways–Fteja v. Facebook
By Eric Goldman Fteja v. Facebook, Inc.,2012 WL 183896 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 24, 2012). Fteja’s initial “complaint” (filed as an order to show cause). If I could wave a magic wand, I’d retire the phrases “clickwrap” and “browsewrap.” Those terms trace…
Google Gets Significant Win in AdWords/Parked Domains Case
By Eric Goldman In re Google AdWords Litigation, 2012 WL 28068 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2012) Google defeated class certification in an AdWords-related case over Google’s placement of ads on parked domains. This almost certainly ends this case in practice,…
Another Set of Parties Duel Over Social Media Contacts — Eagle v. Sawabeh
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Eagle v. Morgan, 11-4303 (E.D. Pa.; Dec. 22, 2011) Background: Dr. Linda Eagle, who holds a Ph.D. in communication and psychology, teamed up with Clifford Brody and founded Edcomm. They were later joined by Davi Shapp….
Facebook “Sponsored Stories” Publicity Rights Lawsuit Survives Motion to Dismiss–Fraley v. Facebook
By Eric Goldman Fraley v. Facebook, Inc., 2011 WL 6303898 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 16, 2012) Because Facebook does so many things that aren’t in users’ interests, their “Sponsored Stories” program barely registers. Nevertheless, Sponsored Stories demonstrates why many people are…
Can A Copyright Be Assigned By Email?–Hermosilla v. Coca-Cola
By John Ottaviani with comments from Venkat and Eric Vergara Hermosilla v. The Coca Cola Company, No. 11-11317 (11th Cir. Nov. 3, 2011). Can a copyright be assigned by an exchange of emails? Section 204(a) of the Copyright Act provides…