Cook County Sheriff Sues Craigslist for Erotic Services Category
By Eric Goldman Dart v. Craigslist, Inc., 09-CV-1385 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed March 5, 2009) Dart, the Cook County, Illinois sheriff, has sued Craigslist in federal court for creating a “public nuisance” because its “Erotic Services” category facilitates prostitution. Unfortunately…
Utah Trying to Regulate Keyword Advertising….Again!? Utah HB 450
By Eric Goldman When I first heard that the Utah legislature is considering yet another law to regulate keyword advertising, I thought: Are you kidding me? After all, Utah has pursued these regulations twice with disastrous results. The first time,…
Facebook Sued Over Private Facebook Group–Finkel v. Facebook
By Eric Goldman Finkel v. Facebook, Inc., 102578-09 (N.Y. Supreme Ct. complaint filed Feb. 24, 2009). A New York teenager has sued Facebook and four Facebook users (plus their parents) for allegedly defamatory content posted in a private Facebook group…
Online Resale of Expired Cosmetics May Be Trademark Infringement–Mary Kay v. Weber
By Eric Goldman Mary Kay, Inc. v. Weber, 2009 WL 426470 (N.D. Tex. Feb. 20, 2009). The Justia page. There are a number of Mary Kay meta-sites tracking this and other Mary Kay lawsuits. For more filings and commentary on…
Republishing Solicited Email May Not Qualify for 47 USC 230 Immunization–Woodhull v. Meinel
By Eric Goldman Woodhull v. Meinel, 2008 WL 5663874 (N.M. App. Ct. Oct. 24, 2008). This one just showed up in my Westlaw alerts; not sure why it took so long. The NM Supreme Court denied cert Jan. 7, 2009….
McGeveran on Facebook Beacon and Social Media Marketing
By Eric Goldman Bill McGeveran, a law professor at University of Minnesota, has posted Disclosure, Endorsement, and Identity in Social Marketing to SSRN. The paper walks through Facebook Beacon and marketers’ other efforts to take advantage of online word of…
Domaining Registrar Defeats Cybersquatting Lawsuit–Philbrick v. eNom
By Eric Goldman Philbrick v. eNom, Inc., 2009 WL 152127 (D.N.H. Jan. 22, 2009). The Justia page. Philbrick’s Sports is a New Hampshire retailer of sporting goods. eNom’s customer registered two domain name variants of Philbrick Sport’s website. When the…
Zango v. Kaspersky Ninth Circuit Oral Arguments
By Eric Goldman The Ninth Circuit has posted the audio of the February 2, 2009 oral arguments in Zango v. Kaspersky, the important 47 USC 230(c)(2) case about vendors’ abilities to classify third party content as spam, viruses, adware/spyware, etc….
Guerrilla Marketing Under False Pretenses Might Be Passing Off–Heartland v. Forest River
By Eric Goldman Heartland Recreational Vehicles, LLC v. Forest River, Inc., 2009 WL 418079 (N.D. Ind. Feb. 18, 2009). The Justia page. When deciding whether it should bring a lawsuit, a potential plaintiff needs to consider not only their likelihood…
Bay Area Blawgers 4.0, March 18, 6-8 pm, SCU
By Eric Goldman The High Tech Law Institute at SCU Law is sponsoring the fourth gathering of Bay Area legal bloggers/blawgers. We’ll have an hour of structured discussion and lots of mingle time. The theme for the discussion will be…