The Internet Rallies Against A Terrible Section 230 Ruling–Hassell v. Bird
…Michelle Paulson. * Xcentric Ventures (Ripoff Report) Letter. Authored by David Gingras. “Ripoff Report does not remove reports in response to court orders/injunctions. The goal of this policy is simple—by…
Repeat Plaintiff Can’t Sue Search Engines Because Employers Won’t Hire Him–Despot v. Baltimore Life Insurance
…are diverging. Case citation: Despot v. Baltimore Life Insurance Co., 2016 WL 4148085 (W.D. Penn. magistrate report June 28, 2016 and district court approval of magistrate report August 4, 2016)…
Blogger Doing Investigative Research Defeats Personal Jurisdiction–FireClean v. Tuohy
…Account Targeting Utah Resident Supports Personal Jurisdiction in Utah — Buckles v. Brides Club, Inc. * Ripoff Report Sues Blogger, Loses on Jurisdictional Grounds–Xcentric Ventures v. Bird * Defamation Lawsuit…
Yelp Isn’t Liable For User-Submitted Photos Of Businesses–Albert v. Yelp
…I’m pleased to report that today’s case has better–and more succinct–news. The lawyer-plaintiff is Lenore Albert. Her Yelp page. She claims a former employee orchestrated a social media attack on…
Q2 2016 Quick Links, Part 1 (Intellectual Property)
…limitations for copyright law. * Photo Attorney: “As reported in the recent White Paper on Remixes, First Sale, and Statutory Damages issued by the Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task…
County Attorney’s Deletion of Constituent’s Facebook Comment May Violate First Amendment
Governments have embraced social media with zeal, from politicians and police departments taking to Twitter, to cities releasing apps designed for citizens to report potholes. A direct and instant communication…
Review Website Gets Hammered In Court–Consumer Cellular v. ConsumerAffairs
…for pay-to-remove businesses. Case citation: Consumer Cellular, Inc. v. ConsumerAffairs.com, 3:15-CV-1908-PK (D. Ore.). Magistrate report, 2016 WL 3176602 (Feb. 29, 2016). Trial court adoption of magistrate report (June 2, 2016)….
Yelp Forced To Remove Defamatory Reviews–Hassell v. Bird
…Yelp. This is in contrast to the Ripoff Report cases like Blockowicz and Giordano (discussed below), where users couldn’t delete reviews after publishing them. The court could have thrown the…
WTF Is Going On With Section 230?–Cross v. Facebook
…Ripoff Report isn’t a “neutral publisher” (sorry, I can never write that term without pointing out it’s an oxymoron). * J.S. v. Village Voice. Section 230 dismissal denied when plaintiff…
FTC Wins Deception Case Over Faux User-Generated Content–Fanning v. FTC
John Fanning challenged the FTC findings that the website he developed, named Jerk.com, materially misrepresented its attributes. On appeal, the First Circuit affirms. Jerk.com resembled Ripoff Report, but for people….