Tweeting Death Threats Isn’t Juvenile Delinquency–In re R.D.
Teens and Twitter–what could go wrong? A tweetstorm broke out among Colorado high schoolers related to the Arapahoe High School shooting. R.D. joined the fray, tweeting A.C. (at his Twitter alias @iTweetYouShutUp) messages including: • “[i]f I see your bitch…
2H 2016 Quick Links, Part 4 (Counterfeits and Olympics)
“Counterfeits” * Gucci v. Alibaba, Case 1:15-cv-03784-PKC (SDNY Aug. 4, 2016) (cites omitted): Plaintiffs have failed to plausibly allege that the Merchant Defendants engaged in anything but independent conduct, without coordination and for their own economic self-interest. Indeed, the Merchant…
2H 2016 Quick Links, Part 3 (Trademarks and Domain Names)
Trademarks * Evoqua Water Technologies LLC v. M.W. Watermark LLC, 2016 WL 4727432 (W.D. Mich. Sept. 12, 2016) Paragraph 1 of the injunction prohibits the use of marks beginning with “J-,” except pursuant to a fair use. Watermark argues that…
2H 2016 Quick Links, Part 2 (Copyright & Open Access)
Copyright * Goldstein v. Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc., 2016 WL 4257457 (D. Md. Aug. 11, 2016) Unlike in Costar, Goldstein alleges that the Metro Photograph, on its face, contained a watermark indicating that it was copyrighted, which would support…
More Evidence Why Keyword Advertising Litigation Is Waning
A venerable and classic Internet Law question: when a consumer uses a trademark as a search term, what are they looking for? If they are seeking the trademark owner–and only the trademark owner–then competitive keyword advertisers may encroach on the…
Police Department’s Social Media Policy Is Unconstitutional–Liverman v. Petersburg
The City of Petersburg’s police department adopted a social media policy for police officers that included the following restrictions: Negative comments on the internal operations of the Bureau, or specific conduct of supervisors or peers that impacts the public’s perception…
Ripoff Report Wins Lawsuit on Jurisdiction Grounds–Williams v. Dunn
Dunn posted a negative Ripoff Report about Williams. Williams asked Ripoff Report to remove it; he says Ripoff Report agreed to do so and then reneged. Williams sued Dunn for defamation and other claims and sued Ripoff Report for publication…
Backpage Executives Defeat Pimping Charges Per Section 230–People v. Ferrer
When Kamala Harris’ office filed pimping charges against three Backpage executives, I wondered: why now? why pimping? After all, in 2013, California AG Kamala Harris signed a letter to Congress saying that Section 230 “prevents State and local law enforcement…
Server Location, Jurisdiction, and Server Location Requirements (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble At the recent “Law, Borders, and Speech” conference at Stanford, several participants debated the relevance of server location in determining jurisdiction. Some Silicon Valley attorneys at the conference argued that the location of a server should…