Engaging Facebook Friends Doesn’t Violate Non-Solicitation Clause–Invidia v. DiFonzo
By Eric Goldman Invidia, LLC, v. Maren DiFonzo, 2012 WL 5576406 (Mass. Super. Ct. Oct. 22, 2012) Let me start with a baseline proposition: we in California have it so much better than the rest of the country because employer-employee…
Court Orders Password Turnover and In Camera Review of Social Media Accounts – EEOC v. Original Honeybaked Ham Co.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] EEOC v. Original Honeybaked Ham Co. of Georgia, Inc., 11 cv 02560 MSK MEH (D. Col. Nov. 7, 2012) This was a lawsuit brought by the EEOC on behalf of 20-22 persons who were allegedly subject…
Court: Customer Consents to Receive Texts by Providing Phone Number to Pharmacy – Pinkard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Pinkard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 12-cv-02902 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 9, 2012) Text messaging lawsuits are out of control.* That said, a district judge granted a motion to dismiss brought by Wal-Mart in a text spam case…
District Court Smacks Down Another “Avatar” Copyright Infringement Claim — Schkeiban v. Cameron
By Jake McGowan Schkeiban v. Cameron, No. 2:12-cv-00636 (C.D. Cal. 2012) As of this post, James Cameron’s movie Avatar has grossed roughly $2.78 billion. And as the old saying goes, “where there’s a hit, there’s a writ.” Given the film’s…
Scribd Botches Its Frictionless Sharing Implementation…AGAIN (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman I’m generally a skeptic of “frictionless sharing,” such as automatically publishing to my friends a list of the articles I’ve read. Frictionless sharing takes a good idea–sharing with my friends the best things I’ve seen in the day–and…
Preview of Our “Solutions to the Software Patent Problem” Conference
By Eric Goldman On Friday, we’re having our big academic conference of the semester, “Solutions to the Software Patent Problem.” At the conference, experts will propose their ideas of how to fix software patents. Ultimately, we hope there will be…
Another Google AdWords Advertiser Defeats Trademark Infringement Lawsuit–CollegeSource v. AcademyOne (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman CollegeSource, Inc. v. AcademyOne, Inc., 2012 WL 5269213 (E.D. Pa. October 25, 2012) Over the last dozen years, there have been countless trademark lawsuits over competitive keyword advertising (i.e., when a company buys its competitor’s trademark to display…
Pro Se Discrimination Lawsuit Against Google Fails–Ajuluchuku v. Google
By Eric Goldman Ajuluchuku v. Google, 2012 WL 5464358 (E.D. Cal. November 7, 2012). Her initial complaint. The third amended complaint. It doesn’t bring me joy to blog “in forma pauperis” pro se lawsuits against Internet companies. Sometimes they are…
Intellectual Property on the Internet: A Brief Comparison of the Current Situation in Europe and the United States (Guest Blog Post)
by Guest Blogger Pablo García Mexía, J.D., Ph.D [Visiting Professor of Internet Law, The College of William & Mary. English translation by Morgan G. Fletcher, B.A. Cornell, William & Mary Law School, Class of 2014. The original Spanish version of…
Court Reduces Damages Award if Defendant Honors Injunction – North American Recycling v. Texamet Recycling
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] North American Recycling, LLC, et al. v. Texamet Recycling, LLC, et al., 08-cv-579 (S.D. Ohio) (Order; Aug. 10, 2012) (Report and Recommendation; Nov. 17, 2010) North American Recycling sued Texamet and its principals for defamation. The…