Backpage Can’t Challenge the SAVE Act–Backpage v. Lynch
I never had a chance to blog the 2015 SAVE Act, but I always meant to. It’s one of the rare times that Congress intentionally circumscribed Section 230. However, instead of amending Section 230 directly, Congress added a federal criminal…
Google Loses Two Section 230(c)(2) Rulings–Spy Phone v. Google and Darnaa v. Google
Section 230(c)(2) doesn’t get a lot of love from practitioners or academics because it doesn’t get a lot of love in court. At the motion to dismiss stage, plaintiffs often can get past a Section 230(c)(2) defense by alleging the…
Court Upholds Airbnb’s Terms of Service–Selden v. Airbnb
This lawsuit alleges that Airbnb’s “hosts” racially discriminate when accepting customers’ bookings. Airbnb sought to send the case to arbitration per its Terms of Service, which the plaintiffs challenges. Contract Formation Trying to sort through the nomenclature confusion created by…
2H 2016 Quick Links, Part 1 (Special Election Edition)
I’ve already cast my ballot, and I hope you will vote too. I don’t normally wade into election politics but there have been several election issues that touch on topics of interest to this blog. So, for the first time,…
Stock Music Library Wins DMCA Safe Harbor Defense–Hempton v. Pond5
Gordon Hempton, an “acoustic ecologist,” creates sound clips of nature. Pond5 runs a stock library–similar to an online marketplace–consisting of 20M content items, including music clips, uploaded by 58,000 registered users. “ckennedy342” is a Pond5 uploader who, it turns out,…
Another Tortured DMCA Online Safe Harbor Ruling–EMI v. MP3Tunes
We’re inadvertently “celebrating” Section 512 week at the Technology and Marketing Law Blog, with Monday’s post on the Copyright Office’s kneecapping of designated agents, today’s post on the MP3Tunes ruling, and a forthcoming post on Pond5. In the past, blogging…
Copyright Office Gratuitously Kills the DMCA Safe Harbor For Thousands of Websites
This story has been like watching a train wreck in slow motion. In 2011 (yes, over 5 years ago), the Copyright Office announced that it was going to transition the designation of DMCA safe harbor agents from paper to electronic….
How Will Courts Handle A “Poor Man’s Copyright”?
I recently came across a complaint (in Vernon v. CBS) referencing a “poor man’s copyright,” and I couldn’t recall seeing the term in a legal filing or document before. This made me curious about whether any courts had discussed the…
Celebrating Judge Ronald Whyte’s Contributions to Internet Law
As you may know, Judge Ronald Whyte is retiring from the Northern District of California. Last week, a symposium at Stanford celebrated his contributions to IP law, especially patent law. The Recorder’s writeup. My photo album. Judge Whyte’s Contributions to…
Deleting Comments to County Facebook Page May Violate First Amendment–Davison v. Loudoun County
This is a case study on the problems that can arise when public records requirements meet modern forms of communications. On July 15, 2016, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors held a public meeting. One of the supervisors elected to…