Manuel Noriega Loses Right of Publicity Suit Against Activision (Guest Blog Post)
…was not attempting to report any news or factual information about Noriega; instead, it was creating a fictional scenario based on his factual activities. Accordingly, as is so often the…
Another Messy Employee-Employer Dispute Over Facebook Page Ownership
…well. Whistleblower Claim: West Virginia’s whistleblower statute protects an employee who reports “wrongdoing or waste . . . to the employer or appropriate authority.” First, while the waste must be…
Q3 2014 Quick Links, Part 2 (Content Regulation)
…e-mail are adequate alternatives. * NY Times: Reddit and 4chan Begin to Button Up * SiliconBeat: Google Will Report Child Porn, Says It Doesn’t Scan Gmail For Other Crimes *…
Q3 2014 Quick Links, Part 1 (RTBF, Reviews, IP & More)
…230 protects Yelp from liability for user review. * Larue v. Brown, No. 1 CA-CV 13-0138 (Az, Ct. App. Aug. 19, 2014). Providing substantive updates to a Ripoff Report entry…
Trademark Owners Just Can’t Win Keyword Advertising Cases–EarthCam v. OxBlue
…1244 (holding that there was no likelihood of “initial interest confusion” because an expert report showed that customers clicked on the defendant’s advertisement only 1.5% of the time that an…
The GOOGLE Mark Isn’t Generic–Elliott v. Google (Forbes Cross-Post)
…survey was poorly constructed and Google’s lawyers eviscerated the report in cross-examination and rebuttal. Meanwhile, Google introduced its own consumer survey showing 94% of consumers identified Google as a brand…
9th Circuit Creates Problematic “Failure To Warn” Exception to Section 230 Immunity–Doe 14 v. Internet Brands
…Super-User’s Doxxing–Internet Brands v. Jape Another Section 230 Win For Ripoff Report–Torati v. Hodak Software Manufacturer Denied Section 230 Immunity–Hardin v. PDX Facebook Gets Easy Section 230 Win in DC…
California Tells Businesses: Stop Trying To Ban Consumer Reviews (Forbes Cross-Post)
…deposit. Or other businesses, such as KlearGear, have filed negative credit reports against consumers who didn’t pay the fine. A consumer could challenge the security deposit deduction or negative credit…
Ninth Circuit Says Yelp Doesn’t Extort Businesses–Levitt v. Yelp (Forbes Cross-Post)
…other consumer review websites who are regularly accused of engaging in extortion, such as Ripoff Report and PissedConsumer (see Ripoff Report’s win and PissedConsumer’s unsuccessful dismissal attempt). Consumer review websites…
Primer on European Union’s Right To Be Forgotten (Excerpt from My Internet Law Casebook) + Bonus Linkwrap
…If They Could” * 26 Questions EU Regulators Want Google to Answer. Google’s answers. * UK Parliament’s report on the law. * Wikipedia pages censored in European search results *…