Repeat Plaintiff Can't Sue Search Engines Because Employers Won't Hire Him--Despot v. Baltimore Life Insurance

Repeat Plaintiff Can’t Sue Search Engines Because Employers Won’t Hire Him–Despot v. Baltimore Life Insurance

The plaintiff, David Despot, has “filed many cases in various courts over the years.” Apparently there is some disagreement about the exact number: “Casetext indicates that its own website reveals 10 lawsuits, BLIC refers specifically to 5, Google states that…

An Assessment of the Anthem Data Breach Litigation Rulings (Guest Blog Post)

By guest blogger David Silverman [Eric’s intro: this blog post helps distill Judge Koh’s two rulings, In re Anthem Inc. Data Breach Litig., No. 15-MD-02617 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 16, 2016) (“Anthem I”) and In re Anthem Inc. Data Breach Litig., No. 15-MD-02617 (N.D….

Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Will Go To A Jury--Edible Arrangements v. Provide Commerce

Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Will Go To A Jury–Edible Arrangements v. Provide Commerce

The parties compete in the “chocolate and fruit-based gift packages” market. Provide bought competitive keywords that used the plaintiff’s trademark, including the keywords “edible arrangements,” “edible arrangements locations,” “edible arrangements coupons,” “edible arrangements promotional code,” “edible arrangements bouquet,” “edible arrangements…

Judge Declines to Enforce Uber's Terms of Service--Meyer v. Kalanick

Judge Declines to Enforce Uber’s Terms of Service–Meyer v. Kalanick

This is an antitrust case against Travis Kalanick, the founder of Uber, alleging that Mr. Kalanick “orchestrated and participated in an antitrust conspiracy.” Uber moved successfully to intervene, and then moved to force arbitration (Mr. Kalanick joined in this motion)….

Texas Ethics Opinion Approves Competitive Keyword Ads By Lawyers

The Texas State Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee has issued Ethics Opinion #661 approving lawyers’ use of competitive keyword advertising. The opinion concludes: A lawyer does not violate the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct by simply using the name of…

County Employee Properly Terminated for Facebook Posts Criticizing Police--Palmer v. Anoka

County Employee Properly Terminated for Facebook Posts Criticizing Police–Palmer v. Anoka

This is another case of an employee terminated for Facebook posts. Leah Palmer worked as a spokesperson for Anthony Palumbo, the Anoka County Attorney. Among her responsibilities were to serve as liaison between Palumbo and Sheriff Stuart (and other law…

Second Circuit’s Decision in Microsoft v. U.S. (Data Stored in Ireland): Good News for Internet Users? (Guest Blog Post)

by guest blogger Marketa Trimble With the July 14, 2016, decision in Microsoft v. United States (“Microsoft”) by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the question arises – as it usually does in cases involving technology in general…