Top Ten Internet Law Developments of 2012 (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman I’m pleased to share my list of top 10 developments of 2012: #10: The Push Towards Anti-Class Action Arbitration Clauses. In 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion that businesses may be able to adopt mandatory…
Anti-Scraping Lawsuits Are Going Crazy in the Real Estate Industry (Catch-Up Post)
By Jake McGowan with comments from Eric [Eric’s preliminary note: it’s taken me weeks to review this blog post, so I’ve been keeping poor Jake in a holding pattern. Still, I hope the wait is worth it.] The real estate…
Class Action Against Path Over Cellphone Address Book Access Keeps Going — Hernandez v. Path
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment from Eric] Hernandez v. Path, Inc., 2012 WL 5194120 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 17, 2012) This is another lawsuit alleging that apps improperly accessed address book and contact information on mobile devices. The related…
Battle Over LinkedIn Account Between Employer and Employee Largely Gutted–Eagle v. Morgan
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Eagle v. Morgan, 2012 WL 4739436 (E.D. Pa.; Oct. 4, 2012) We’ve repeatedly posted about employer-employee (or ex-employee) disputes involving social media accounts (PhoneDog; Maremont; Kremer; Insynq). Eagle v. Morgan is in…
Craigslist’s Latest Moves Show It Cares More About Its Market Position Than Delivering Value to Its Users (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Craigslist is resorting to increasingly desperate measures to control its users’ classified ad listings. Last month, Craigslist sued 3Taps and Padmapper for scraping and repackaging its classified ads. Since then, it has extracted greater IP rights from its…
Ex-Employee’s Access/Misuse of Employer Files States CFAA Claim — Weingand v. Harland Financial
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] Weingand v. Harland Financial Solutions, C 11 3109 EMC (N.D. Cal.; June 19, 2012) Weingand involves claims brought by an employee, and proposed counterclaims brought by the employer against the employee. Nor…
Now Available: My Internet Law Syllabus and Reader for Fall 2012
By Eric Goldman I posted my syllabus and my course reader (a $7.50 download at Gumroad) for Fall 2012. If you teach Internet Law (or hope to), email me if you’d like a free copy of the reader plus my…
4th Circuit Limits the Reach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act – WEC Carolina Energy Solutions v. Miller
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] WEC Carolina Energy Solutions LLC v. Miller, et al., 2012 WL 3039213 (4th Cir.; July 26, 2012) We’ve blogged about the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act being stretched by plaintiffs in civil…
Judge Koh Whittles Down iPhone App Privacy Lawsuit – In re iPhone Application Litig.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re iPhone Application Litig., 11-MD-02250-LHK (N.D. Cal.; June 12, 2012) Plaintiffs brought a putative class action against Apple and several “mobile industry defendants.” The basic allegations are that apps available for free in the app…
Court Refuses to Dismiss Claims Against Alleged Twitter-Bot Spammer–Twitter v. Skootle
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Twitter, Inc. v. Skootle Corp., et al., 2012 WL 2375486 (N.D. Cal.; June 22, 2012) Twitter sued several alleged spammers, including (1) those who provided software for the use of automated account creation and tweeting, and…