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…
Announcing the Third Edition of Advertising & Marketing Law: Cases & Materials by Tushnet & Goldman
Rebecca and I are pleased to announce the publication of the third edition of our casebook, Advertising & Marketing Law: Cases & Materials. It is available for purchase in the following formats: * As a DRM-free PDF file. Price: $11.50…
Quora Gets Easy Section 230 Win In Tenth Circuit–Silver v. Quora
Since its Accusearch ruling in 2009, the Tenth Circuit has been a dicey place for Section 230 defendants. Fortunately, this case goes smoothly. David Silver is an investment banker in Santa Fe. On Quora, someone asked: “Has anyone worked with…
Plaintiffs’ Law Firm Can Reference Targeted Business’ Name In Ad Copy–McHugh Fuller v. Pruitt
PruittHealth operates nursing homes in the Southeast. The McHugh Fuller law firm regularly sues nursing homes (their tagline: “Nursing Home Law…It’s What We Do”). To drum up business, in March 2015, it ran the following ad in the Moultrie, Georgia…
Twitter Defeats ISIS “Material Support” Lawsuit Again–Fields v. Twitter
As you may recall, this lawsuit relates to two American contractors in Jordan killed in a terrorist attack claimed by ISIS. The plaintiffs sued Twitter for providing material support to ISIS. In August, the judge dismissed the lawsuit on Section…
Court Rejects Effort to De-Index Search Results–Manchanda v. Google
Rahul Manchanda, an attorney, claims he was defamed in Ripoff Reports and elsewhere. In 2013, he obtained a restraining order against some of the authors in New York state court. Manchanda then sought to expand that order to restrain Ripoff…
Conflict of Laws Has Caught Up with Silicon Valley. Now Silicon Valley Needs to Catch Up on Conflict of Laws (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Marketa Trimble On October 24 and 25, 2016, the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School hosted a conference entitled “Law, Borders, and Speech.” The excellent, thought-provoking conference featured panels of U.S. and international speakers, a…
Now the Seventh Circuit Is Shitting On Section 230–Huon v. Denton
Section 230’s trainwreck of a year adds another derailment. MAKE. IT. STOP. This case is a defamation-plus lawsuit over two stories, one published on Above the Law and the other by the Gawker property Jezebel. The Jezebel story described plaintiff…