2H 2015 Quick Links, Part 3 (Trespass To Chattels, Privacy/Security)
Trespass to Chattels * Crapps v. State, 2015 WL 8114247 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Dec. 8, 2015). This is a revenge porn case, and the defendant was convicted of violating an anti-stalking protection order. However, in this ruling, the court…
Third Circuit Revives a Sliver of Plaintiff’s Cookie-Blocking Circumvention Claims Against Google
This is a lawsuit alleging that Google and others circumvented cookie-blocking settings of popular browsers. Our blog post on the district court ruling here: “Google Wins Cookie Privacy Lawsuit”. Plaintiffs asserted federal and state claims. The court affirms dismissal of…
Q4 2014 & Q1 2015 Quick Links Part 4 (Potpourri)
Commerce * NAD tells CheapoAir that it can’t run keyword ads showing the lowest priced flight in its database if it can’t deliver that fare to the consumer. * United Airlines sues 22-year-old who found a method for buying cheaper…
QVC Can’t Stop Web Scraping–QVC v. Resultly (Forbes Cross-Post)
“Web scraping,” also called crawling or spidering, is the automated gathering of data from someone else’s website. Scraping is an essential part of how the Internet functions. For example, Google uses web scraping to build its search database worth hundreds…
Lawsuit Against Adware Vendor Fails–Halperin v. Text Enhance
Text Enhance, a program developed by Affluent Ads, scans web page text for certain keywords. When the user mouses over any of those keywords, the adware serves up a pop-up ad on the user’s computer. Halperin ended up with Text…
H2 2013 Quick Links, Part 4 (Social Media, Advertising, E-Commerce)
Facebook * MarketingLand’s coverage of Facebook’s increasingly complicated algorithm for ranking news feed stories. * People v. DeJesus, 2013 WL 6327657 (Cal. App. Ct. Dec. 4, 2013): As for defendant’s claim about an Internet posting to a group as potentially violating the trial court’s…
Company That Facilitates Digital Access to Public Records Uses CFAA to Block Scraper
[Eric’s introduction: this post has been sitting in our tank over a month. I put a hold on it when I was considering using this fact pattern for my Internet Law exam. I decided to go in a different direction,…
Fake LinkedIn Profile May Cause Trademark Infringement – Avepoint v. Axceler
Avepoint, Inc. v. Power Tools, Inc. d/b/a Axceler, 7:13CV00035 (W.D. Va. Nov. 7, 2013) Avepoint and Axceler are competitors providing “infrastructure management and governance software platforms for Microsoft Sharepoint products and technologies.” Avepoint alleged that Axceler denigrated Avepoint online. Specifically,…
Think Hoarding Passwords Keeps You Safe From Firing? Think Again (Forbes Cross-Post)
Most employees think they are indispensable to their employers, but in fact, most employees are easily replaced. A recent legal ruling involved an IT manager who sought job security by holding “the keys to the kingdom”–the passwords to the company’s…
Google Wins Cookie Privacy Lawsuit
In re Google Inc. Cookie Placement Consumer Privacy Litigation, MDL Civ No. 12-2358 (D. Del. Oct. 9, 2013) [pdf] The factual background in the court’s order is fairly brief. In a nutshell, plaintiffs sued Google, along with advertisers and networks,…