Bad SEO Advice May Support Negligence Claim–D’Agostino v. Appliances Buy Phone
By Eric Goldman D’Agostino v. Appliances Buy Phone, Inc., 2011 WL 4345674 (D.N.J. Sept. 15, 2011). One iteration of the complaint. This is a confusing dispute, so I’m just going to focus on a few aspects. Based on the court’s…
1st Circuit Reinstates $675,000 File-Sharing Award Against Tenenbaum — Sony BMG v. Tenenbaum
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Sony BMG Music Entertainment v. Tenenbaum, 2011 WL 4133920 (1st Cir. Sept. 16, 2011) [pdf] Sony’s lawsuit against Joel Tenenbaum was one of two file-sharing lawsuits brought by record labels against end users that proceeded to…
Web Vendor Dispute Gets Ugly–Ground Zero Museum v. Wilson
By Eric Goldman Ground Zero Museum Workshop v. Wilson, 2011 WL 3758582 (D. Md. Aug. 24, 2011) Disputes like these make me wonder if we can’t find some way to get along. Suson runs a non-profit museum focused on the…
Request for Help: Doctor v. Patient Lawsuits Over Online Reviews
By Eric Goldman I’m doing some research, and I’m hoping you can help. I’m trying to comprehensively catalog doctor vs. patient lawsuits over online reviews of the doctor. I’m equally interested in suits by other health care professionals; I’ve noticed…
Ninth Circuit Upholds Web Host’s Liability for Counterfeiting Retailers–Louis Vuitton v. Akanoc
By Eric Goldman Louis Vuitton Malletier SA v. Akanoc Solutions, Inc., No. 10-15909 (9th Cir. Sept. 12, 2011). Prior blog posts: * Another Bad Ruling in Louis Vuitton v. Akanoc * Making Sense of the $32M Contributory Trademark Infringement Judgment…
Patent Conference Announcement, SCU, Oct. 14 (July-Aug. 2011 Quick Links, Part 3)
By Eric Goldman Over the past few months, we’ve seen some dramatic–and expensive–evidence that the patent system is out-of-control. Feeling outgunned in the smartphone space by big players with larger patent portfolios, Google has been on the prowl for bulk…
Lawyer Hit With $4.2 Million Judgment in Junk Fax Class Action — Holtzman v. Turza
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Holtzman v. Turza, 08 C 2014 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 29, 2011) Apparently reports of the fax machine’s death are greatly exaggerated. People still use fax machines. Holtzman sued Turza for receiving unsolicited faxes. The court certified…
Blogger Can Display County Seal in Blog Posts–Rothamel v. Fluvanna County
By Eric Goldman Rothamel v. Fluvanna County, Va., 2011 WL 3878313 (W.D. Va. Sept. 2, 2011) I don’t use images on this blog, but many bloggers include images to help illustrate their posts. It’s not uncommon, then, for bloggers to…
Reflections on the DOJ-Google Half-Billion Deal over Illegal Pharma Ads (July-August 2011 Quick Links, Part 2)
By Eric Goldman I haven’t previously written on the DOJ’s bust of Google over illegal pharmaceutical ads, partially because I couldn’t reconcile my views about this enforcement action. From my vantage point, this action equally fits into two dichotomous stories,…
Court Invalidates Agreement Governing Toyota’s Online Prank Contest — Duick v. Toyota
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Duick v. Toyota, B224839 (Ca Ct. App.; Aug. 31, 2011) Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi ran a marketing campaign where a visitor to the Toyota Matrix website could designate a separate person who would receive prank…