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…
Buying Personal Names for Keyword Ads Isn’t a Publicity Rights Violation–Habush v. Cannon
By Eric Goldman Habush v. Cannon, 09-CV-18149 (Wis. Cir. Ct. June 8, 2011). The June 2010 denial of the motion to dismiss. A good overview article from when the complaint was filed. Introduction A Wisconsin court has said that a…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman Search Engines * Google is working on a deal with the DOJ over illegal pharmaceutical ads and has set aside $500M for fines. Some background on the problem. Google isn’t the only search engine with problematic pharmaceutical…
TheDirty Defeats Privacy Invasion Lawsuit–Dyer v. Dirty World
By Eric Goldman Dyer v. Dirty World LLC, 2011 WL 2173900 (D. Ariz. June 2, 2011). The summary judgment motion, Dyer’s opposition and thedirty’s reply. An ex-boyfriend submitted to thedirty.com 2 photos of Dyer in a bikini and a comment…
Ohio Appeals Court: GoDaddy can be Held Liable for Wrongly Transferring Control Over Domain Name and Email Accounts — Eysoldt v. ProScan
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Eysoldt v. GoDaddy, et al., C-100528 (Ohio Ct. App.; May 18, 2011) Actions against registrars for allowing domain names to be wrongly transferred have been relatively rare. Members of the Eysoldt family brought claims against GoDaddy…
Court Allows Fair Credit Reporting Act Claims Against Spokeo to Move Forward — Robins v. Spokeo
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Robins v. Spokeo, No. CV10 05306 ODW (AGRx) (C.D. Cal.; May 11, 2011) I previously blogged about Spokeo, which is being sued for disseminating reports which allegedly contain inaccurate information about plaintiff….
Plaintiff Can’t be Forced to Accept Defense Counsel’s Facebook Friend Request in Personal Injury Case — Piccolo v. Paterson
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Piccolo v. Paterson, No. 2009-04979 (Pa. Ct of Common Pleas; May 5, 2011) [.pdf] In addition to cases dealing with whether Facebook posts are discoverable in civil cases, courts and litigants continue to grapple with the…
Website Privacy Policy Supports Pseudonymous Poster’s Expectation of Privacy — Cornelius v. Deluca
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Cornelius v. Deluca, 10-Cv-027-BLW (D.Id.; Mar. 15, 2011) A district court judge in Idaho denied a request to unmask the identity of a pseudonymous forum poster. In support of its decision, the court looked to the…
Employee’s Twitter and Facebook Impersonation Claims Against Employer Move Forward — Maremont v. Fredman Design Group
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Maremont v. Susan Fredman Design Group, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26441 (N.D. Ill.; March 15, 2011) As alleged in the complaint, Fredman is a prominent interior designer who runs the Susan Fredman Design Group (SFDG). SFDG…
Google Not Liable for Suggested Vanity Searches–Stayart v. Google
By Eric Goldman Stayart v. Google, Inc., 2011 WL 855316 (E.D. Wis. March 8, 2011) Beverly Stayart (a/k/a Bev Stayart) has graced these pages so many times, I feel a little silly recapping her story yet again. The short story…