The OPEN Act: Significantly Flawed But More Salvageable Than SOPA/PROTECT-IP
By Eric Goldman Sen. Wyden and Rep. Issa have released a draft of OPEN: Online Protection & ENforcement of Digital Trade Act, intended as an alternative to SOPA/PROTECT-IP. See my prior posts opposing SOPA and linkwrapping the discussion. Unlike SOPA’s…
Australian Court Says Google Isn’t Liable for Advertiser’s Misleading Ad–ACCC v. Trading Post (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Mark Bender, with some comments by Eric Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Trading Post Australia Pty Ltd [2011] FCA 1086 (September 22, 2011, corrected October 10, 2011) [Eric’s introduction: Mark Bender is a business law lecturer…
October 2011 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Copyright * MUST READ from Techdirt: MPAA Helped Police Seize ‘Pirated’ DVDs That Were Actually Fully Authorized. On the topic of errors in determining copyright infringement, the incident a powerful reminder both that even those “in the…
Stebbins’ Lawsuit Against Google Dismissed as “Frivolous”–Stebbins v. Google
By Eric Goldman Stebbins v. Google, Inc., 2011 WL 5150879 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 27, 2011). Stebbins’ motion to confirm arbitration award (the equivalent of his complaint in this case). Arkansas resident David Stebbins appears to be cranking up a one-man…
Ex-Employee Converted Social Media/Website Passwords by Keeping Them From Her Employer–Ardis Health v. Nankivell
[Post by Venkat, with comments from Eric] Ardis Health, LLC, Curb Your Cravings, LLC and USA Herbals, LLC v. Ashleigh Nankivell, 2011 WL 4965172 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 19, 2011) Nenkivell worked for CYC as a “video and social media producer.” Her…
Keyword Metatags are Back…Will Judicial Freakouts Continue?
By Eric Goldman Keyword metatags are back, and I couldn’t be less thrilled. Few Internet technologies have so thoroughly baffled judges as keyword metatags. From a technologists’ perspective, keyword metatags were a 1990s experiment by public search engines at improving…
Lawsuit Against Google Over Invalid Clicks and Special Partner Advertising Dismissed — Woods v. Google
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Woods v. Google, 5:10-cv-1263-JF (N.D. Cal.; Aug 10, 2011) This is an advertiser vs. Google lawsuit where the plaintiff argued on behalf of a putative class that (1) he was improperly charged…
Google Defeats Class Certification in Keyword Ad Lawsuit–FPX v. Google
By Eric Goldman FPX, LLC v. Google, Inc., 2011 WL 4783376 (E.D. Tex. Sept. 29, 2011) Google obtained a major victory in one of the most serious pending lawsuits against it challenging its AdWords keyword advertising program. Putative class action…
Facebook’s Trademark Suit Against Teachbook Survives Motion to Dismiss
by Eric Goldman Facebook, Inc. v. Teachbook.com LLC, 2011 WL 4449686 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 26, 2011). Facebook has been helping many lawyers send their kids to private school with an expensive enforcement campaign to control the prefix “face” and suffix…
Bad SEO Advice May Support Negligence Claim–D’Agostino v. Appliances Buy Phone
By Eric Goldman D’Agostino v. Appliances Buy Phone, Inc., 2011 WL 4345674 (D.N.J. Sept. 15, 2011). One iteration of the complaint. This is a confusing dispute, so I’m just going to focus on a few aspects. Based on the court’s…