Advertising & Marketing Law Syllabus for Spring 2011

By Eric Goldman Next semester, I am teaching Advertising & Marketing Law for the first time. My syllabus. This is a brand-new course built from the ground up. As teaching materials, I will be using an early draft of a…

Court: Search of Contents of Student Cell Phone Covered by Qualified Immunity — J.W. v. Desoto County School Dist.

[Post by Venkat] J.W. v. Desoto County School Dist., et al., 09-cv-00155-MPM-DAS (N.D. Miss.; Nov. 1, 2010) The Virginia Attorney General set off a small firestorm (e.g., “Should Teachers Be Searching Cell Phones?“) when he issued an opinion to the…

Rosetta Stone v. Google Amicus Briefs in Support of Google

By Eric Goldman Three amicus briefs were filed in support of Google in the Rosetta Stone v. Google appeal. eBay and Yahoo. This is the “industry” brief, although in the past, typically more players have joined a brief like this….

Court Holds Defendant in Contempt for Failing to Scrub Trademark Use From the Internet — TDC Int’l v. Burnham

[Post by Venkat, with comments from Eric] TDC Int’l v. Burnham, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116741 (E.D. Mich; Nov. 2, 2010) TDC sued Burnham based on Burnham’s use of the “Quick and Easy Moving” mark, which supposedly infringed on TDC’s…

Rosetta Stone v. Google Appellate Briefs: Google’s Opening Brief and Rosetta Stone’s Unredacted Brief

By Eric Goldman Due to the intervention of Public Citizen, Rosetta Stone filed an unredacted brief in its appeal of Rosetta Stone v. Google. The actual redacted material seemed hardly worthy of confidentiality; in some cases, the information already was…

Message Board Operator Fights Discovery Order Requiring Broad Disclosure [Update] — Concerned Citizens for Crystal City v. City of Crystal City

[Post by Venkat] Concerned Citizens for Crystal City v. Crystal City, No. ED94135 (Mo. Ct. App.; Nov. 30, 2010) (amended order) I posted in October about a discovery dispute involving a message board operator who was subject to an overly…

Court Admits Google Earth Evidence, But Only for Demonstrative Purposes — State ex rel. J.B.

[Post by Venkat] State ex rel J.B., Case No. A-2228-08T4 (N.J. Ct. App.; Sept. 27, 2010) J.B., a juvenile, was convicted for burglary, robbery, and trafficking in stolen property (“a jar of coins, a samurai sword collection, and a laptop”)….

Court Finds That Threatening Video Posted to YouTube and Facebook Can Constitute a “True Threat” — US v. Jeffries

[Post by Venkat] US v. Jeffries, 10-CR-100 (E.D. Tenn) (Report and Recommendation; Oct. 22, 2010) Background: The defendant was charged with transmitting a video through interstate commerce which contained a threat to kill or injure a Knox County Chancellor. The…

Another Ruling Challenging “Check the Website for Amendments” Contract Provisions–Roling v. E*Trade

By Eric Goldman Roling v. E*Trade Securities LLC, 2010 WL 4916401 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 22, 2010). The plaintiffs are suing over E*Trade’s allegedly unilateral imposition of an account maintenance fee for folks who didn’t make at least one quarterly trade….

Web Host Denied 230 Defense When It Allegedly “Actively Contributes” to Website–Kruska v. Perverted Justice

By Eric Goldman Kruska v. Perverted Justice Foundation Incorporated.org, 2010 WL 4791666 (D. Ariz. Nov. 18, 2010). The CMLP page. I previously posted on this lawsuit in 2008, when the court dismissed GoDaddy as a defendant. This ruling deals with…