Whitney Information v. Xcentric Update
By Eric Goldman Whitney Information Network v. Xcentric Ventures, 2006 WL 2243041 (11th Cir. Aug 1, 2006) I previously blogged on this case, where the operators of ripoffreport.com and ripoffrevenge.com won a 230 defense in district court. However, the judge…
Blackboard Patent Suit Stirs Up Academic and Open Source Hornet’s Nests–Blackboard v. Desire2Learn
By John Ottaviani Blackboard, Inc. v. Desire2Learn Inc., No. 9:06-cv-00155-RHC (complaint filed July 26, 2006) Although this story does not seem to have hit the mainstream press yet, there has been a firestorm in the academic and open source communities…
Jews for Jesus v. Google Lawsuit Settles
By Eric Goldman Jews for Jesus v. Google, Inc., 05-CV-10684 (SDNY voluntary dismissal filed July 26, 2006) You may recall the lawsuit filed by Jews for Jesus against Google in December. The lawsuit involved a BlogSpot user who created a…
eBay Not Liable for Defamatory Feedback–Sturm v. eBay
By Eric Goldman Sturm v. eBay, No. 1-06-CV-057926 (Cal. Superior Ct. July 27, 2006) [sorry, my copies are pretty poor: page 1, page 2] Your mother always said “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” This…
Amazon’s Display of Book Cover Doesn’t Violate Publicity Rights—Almeida v. Amazon.com
By Eric Goldman Almeida v. Amazon.com, Inc., 2006 U.S. APP. LEXIS 17989 (11th Cir. July 18, 2006) Introduction Product photos on e-commerce websites’ product pages are a notorious liability trap. During my tenure at Epinions, product page photos were the…
Doe v. MySpace.com — Continued
By John Ottaviani I was finally able to read the complaint. It raises some very interesting issues concerning the obligations of website hosts and Internet service providers to institute and enforce appropriate security measures to decrease the likelihood of harm…
Google Click Fraud Settlement Approved
By Eric Goldman The Arkansas judge approved the settlement in the Lane’s Gifts and Collectibles v. Google case. Ruling here. Google’s announcement here. For reasons I’ve explained before, this is a Big Win for Google (and, not a bad payday…
Send in the Clowns’ (Lawyers)
By Eric Goldman In response to parental demands, some clowns wear (without permission) costumes that imitate Barney the dinosaur, Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine, Clifford the Big Red Dog and other cartoon characters as part of their birthday…
Stay at Home Mom K’s Johnny Damon’s Right of Publicity Claim
By John Ottaviani Last week, ESPN.com reported yet another unsuccessful and ridiculous attempt to use trademark law to stifle negative commentary. According to the article, Ann Sylvia, a Massachusetts mother of two children, has operated an on-line store on eBay…
Blog Law Recap
By Eric Goldman Spring was a busy time for blog law! This post recap some blog law resources: * My talk on blogs and intellectual property at the Milwaukee Bar Association (newly posted) * Notes from my talk on blog…