How Much Does 1-800 Contacts Hate Competitive Keyword Advertising? $1.1M Worth!?
By Eric Goldman Rader Fishman & Grauer PLLC v. 1-800 Contacts, Inc., 2:10-cv-00191-TS-DN (redacted complaint filed March 30, 2010; answer and counterclaim filed March 25, 2010; counterclaim answer filed April 19, 2010) 1-800 Contacts has been a repeated guest star…
A Jury Verdict That Competitive Keyword Advertising Isn’t Trademark Infringement–College Network v. Moore
By Eric Goldman College Network, Inc. v. Moore Educational Publishers, Inc., 2010 WL 1923763 (5th Cir. May 12, 2010). The jury verdict form from January 2009. The district court’s final judgment from June 2009. In December, I blogged about the…
FTC Busts Check-Issuing Website for Unfair Practices–FTC v. Qchex
By Eric Goldman Federal Trade Commission v. Neovi, Inc., 09-55093 (9th Cir. May 14, 2010) Qchex allowed registered users to create and send checks via a website. Initially, users could submit bank account information and payee information, and Qchex would…
MySpace Profile Evidence Inadmissible to Show Defendant Committed ‘Gangster Style’ Robbery — U.S. v. Phaknikone
[Post by Venkat] U.S. v. Phaknikone, Case No. 09-10084 (11th Cir.) (May 10, 2010) Defendant Phaknikone was convicted of seven counts of armed robbery, carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, and having possession of a firearm…
LimeWire Smacked Down for Inducing Copyright Infringement–Arista Records v. Lime Group
By Eric Goldman Arista Records LLC v. Lime Group LLC, 2010 WL 1914816 (S.D.N.Y. May 11, 2010) This is one of the rare cases where the news reports mostly got it right. Plain and simple, the record labels won a…
4th Cir.: No Expectation of Privacy in Internet and Phone Subscriber Info — U.S. v. Bynum
[Post by Venkat] United States v. Bynum, Case No. 08-4207 (4th Cir.) (May 5, 2010) The FBI observed Marques Bynum’s activities in a Yahoo! chat room. Bynum had uploaded photos of children engaged in sex acts. The FBI served an…
Internet Access Provider & Blocklist Publishers Denied 230(c)(2) Immunity for Anti-Spam Efforts
By Eric Goldman Smith v. Trusted Universal Standards in Electronic Transactions, Inc., 2010 WL 1799456 (D.N.J. May 4, 2010) It’s usually a drag to read opinions in pro se lawsuits. Most of the time, the litigant gets flattened mercilessly. Occasionally,…
Geographic Trademark Leads to Interesting (& Tortured) Injunction–Skydive Arizona v. Quattrocchi
By Eric Goldman Skydive Arizona, Inc. v. Quattrocchi, 2010 WL 1743189 (D. Ariz. April 29, 2010). A jury found that the defendants had committed trademark infringement, false advertising and cybersquatting and awarded $2.5M in damages, which the judge doubled. Unfortunately,…
Updates to the Outed Judge-Commenter’s Lawsuit Against the Plain Dealer — Saffold v. Plain Dealer
[Post by Venkat] I posted a while ago on the lawsuit brought by Judge Saffold against the Plain Dealer newspaper where she alleges the newspaper improperly outed her as a commenter in breach of its privacy policy. A few updates:…
Brazil’s Proposed Internet Regulation–an Update (That’s Actually Good News) (Guest Blog Post)
by Guest Blogger Marcel Leonardi Some fantastic news: in response to the waves of criticism toward the proposed notice and takedown regime that might have curbed online speech in Brazil – see my prior blog post – the Brazilian Ministry…