Court Invalidates Agreement Governing Toyota’s Online Prank Contest — Duick v. Toyota
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Duick v. Toyota, B224839 (Ca Ct. App.; Aug. 31, 2011) Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi ran a marketing campaign where a visitor to the Toyota Matrix website could designate a separate person who would receive prank…
Mixed DMCA Online Safe Harbor Ruling in Cloud-Based Music Locker Case–Capitol v. MP3Tunes
By Eric Goldman Capitol Records, Inc. v. MP3Tunes, LLC, 2011 WL 3667335 (SDNY Aug. 22, 2011). Background. This case involves MP3Tunes.com and Sideload.com. MP3Tunes is a music storage locker. Small lockers are free, but more storage is available at a…
Deep Packet Inspection Lawsuits: NebuAd Partner ISP Wins Summary Judgment — Kirch v. Embarq
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Kirch v. Embarq, 10-2047-JAR (D. Kan. Aug. 19, 2011) The fallout from Nebuad’s ill-fated deep packet inspection continues to percolate through the courts. Plaintiffs sued NebuAd and ISPs in the same forum…
Zynga Wins Arbitration Ruling on “Special Offer” Class Claims Based on Concepcion — Swift v. Zynga
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Swift v. Zynga, 2011 WL 3419499 (N.D. Cal.; August 4, 2011) The US Supreme Court decided AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion earlier this year, and a question left open in that decision is…
Google Gets Default Injunction Against AdWord Gamers–Google v. Jackman
By Eric Goldman Google v. Jackman, 2011 WL 3267907 (N.D. Cal. July 28, 2011) This is a default ruling, so the facts are based on Google’s allegations. The defendants ran AdWords campaigns for online pharmacies that sold anabolic steroids. This…
Idea Submission Case Revived Against MySpace–Riggs v. MySpace
By Eric Goldman Riggs v. MySpace, Inc., 2011 WL 3020543 (9th Cir. July 25, 2011) Riggs created a popular MySpace page, only to have MySpace delete it twice. Not pleased by that turn of events, for years Riggs has been…
Job Posting to LinkedIn Group Doesn’t Violate Non-Solicitation Clause — Enhanced Network Solutions v. Hypersonic Technologies
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Enhanced Network Solutions Group v. Hypersonic Technologies Corp., 2011 WL 2582870 (Ind. Ct. App. June 30, 2011) Enhanced developed software, and had a relationship with Hypersonic, which modified existing software. The two companies often jointly bid…
Court Dismisses Misappropriation Claims Against Facebook Over Its Friend Finder Service — Cohen v. Facebook
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Cohen v. Facebook, C 10-5282 RS (N.D. Cal. June 28, 2011) There are a slew of publicity rights lawsuits pending against Facebook. This one alleged that Facebook misappropriated the names and likenesses of Facebook users by…
Righthaven Benchslapped in Ruling Saying It Lacks Standing–Righthaven v. Democratic Underground
By Eric Goldman Righthaven LLC v. Democratic Underground, LLC, 2:10-cv-01356-RLH-GWF (D. Nev. June 14, 2011) This is another stinging defeat for Righthaven. The judge emphatically rejects Righthaven’s substantive arguments about its copyright assignment from Stephens Media and harshly criticizes Righthaven’s…
Forum Selection Clause in “Submerged” Terms of Service Presumptively Unenforceable — Hoffman v. Supplements Togo
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Hoffman v. Supplements Togo Mgmt. LLC, A-5022-09T3 (N.J. Ct. App.; May 13, 2011) Plaintiff who happened to be a lawyer brought putative class claims against Supplements Togo, alleging that the “Erection MD” “dietary supplement” sold via…