Search Engines Aren’t Liable for Gambling Ads Per 230–Cisneros v. Yahoo
By Eric Goldman Cisneros v. Yahoo, CGC-04-433518 (Cal. Superior Ct. “Tentative Trial Decision” Nov. 6, 2008) I am frequently asked if 47 USC 230 protects websites for claims based on the ads they run. My answer is emphatically “yes” unless…
October 2008 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Spam * Kramer v. Perez. An Iowa court awards $236M in damages in a spam case. Venkat’s comments. * After the government lost its jury trial against Impulse Media, the court denied Impulse Media attorneys fees. Contracts…
Yellow Pages Publisher Hit with $1.5M Fraud Judgment for Publishing False Ad–Knepper v. Brown
By Eric Goldman Knepper v. Brown, CC 9903-02495 (Or. Sup. Ct. Oct. 9, 2008) A woman got a botched liposuction job (which plaintiff’s expert described as an “uncorrectable disaster”) from Dr. Brown, a dermatologist. She sued the dermatologist and Dex,…
Lambotte’s Click Fraud Lawsuit Against IAC Survives Motion to Dismiss
By Eric Goldman Lambotte v. IAC/InterActiveCorp, 2008 WL 4829882 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 4, 2008). Initial blog post on the filing of the first complaint. Lambotte filed this putative class action lawsuit against IAC in May based on alleged click fraud….
CAN-Spam-a-Friend?–Hoang v. Reunion.com
Hoang v. Reunion.com sidesteps an eagerly anticipated legal dispute over the legality of commercial address book scraping and ‘send-to-a-friend’ emails, and also highlights the damage that can cascade when a federal Circuit Court woefully misreads a statute. By Ethan Ackerman…
September 2008 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman eBay * Universal Grading Service v. eBay, Inc. More fallout from the National Numismatic v. eBay case–another lawsuit alleging antitrust and defamation because eBay designated some coin rating services as preferred and impliedly devalued others. * Windsor…
Email Ad Network Isn’t Liable for Unsolicited Email–Ferron v. Echostar
By Eric Goldman Ferron v. Echostar Satellite LLC, 2008 WL 4377309 (S.D. Ohio Sept. 24, 2008). The Justia page. John Ferron is one of several “repeat” plaintiffs around the country suing over unsolicited email (perhaps not coincidentally, he’s also an…
Delayed Enforcement Blocks Domain Name Lawsuit–Southern Grouts v. 3M
By Eric Goldman Southern Grouts & Mortars, Inc. v. 3M Co., 2008 WL 4346798 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 17, 2008) I’m often baffled by lawsuits over domain names and keywords because they just don’t seem to make any economic sense. This…
DMV.org Hit With SEO-Degrading Injunction–TrafficSchool.com v. eDriver
By Eric Goldman TrafficSchool.com, Inc. v. eDriver, Inc., 2008 WL 4000805 (C.D. Cal. June 4, 2008). Permanent injunction entered Aug. 28, 2008. [Note: I missed this case when it first came out. I recently learned about the case from Rebecca,…
August 2008 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Net Neutrality * The FCC gets on Comcast’s case for deceptively blocking BitTorrent connections without disclosure. While I don’t know anyone who has defended Comcast’s behavior here, at the same time there is an undercurrent of concern…