Do You Think Software Patents Are a Problem? Then Come to This Conference, SCU, Nov. 16
By Eric Goldman I’m sure you are feeling the ongoing angst associated with software patents. In the past few months, Google, Judge Posner, and the opinion pages have all expressed dismay about software patents and how they’re being used. Ancedotally,…
Business School Professors May Be Liable for Defamatory Blog Post–ZAGG v. Catanach
By Eric Goldman ZAGG, Inc. v. Catanach, 2012 WL 4462813 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 27, 2012) Anthony H. Catanach Jr. and J. Edward Ketz are business school professors, Canatach at Villanova’s business school and Ketz at Penn State’s business school. Together,…
“Notes and Questions” About the UMG v. Shelter Capital Case (Excerpt from my Internet Law Reader)
By Eric Goldman As I previously mentioned, I have posted my Internet Law reader as a $7.50 download. In connection with adding the UMG v. Shelter Capital case, I completely redid the “Notes and Questions” section following the edited case….
We Need Federal Anti-SLAPP Legislation, But Sen. Kyl’s “Free Press Act of 2012? Isn’t the Answer (Yet) (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman It’s a sad but all-too-common story nowadays. A consumer posts a negative online review about a business. Angered by the negative feedback, and fearful of the lost business, the business threatens the consumer with a lawsuit. Recognizing…
Latest “Hot Topics in Internet Law” Talk Slides
By Eric Goldman Earlier this month, I spoke at the “IP and the Internet” conference sponsored by the California State Bar’s IP Section on the perennial favorite topic, “Hot Topics in Internet Law.” My talk slides. Given the conference’s theme,…
Cafepress Suffers Potentially Significant Trademark Loss for Users’ Uploaded Designs (Forbes Cross-Post)
Cafepress.com ($PRSS) provides a popular user-to-user marketplace websites that allows users to upload logos or slogans and sell items bearing those logos or slogans, which Cafepress.com manufactures on demand (a so-called “print-on-demand” service). Like any other user-generated content website, there’s always…
Newly Released Consumer Survey Indicates that Legal Concerns About Competitive Keyword Advertising Are Overblown (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Competitive keyword advertising—buying ads triggered by a keyword search for a competitor’s trademarks at venues like Google AdWords, Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing—has generated enormous legal angst over the past decade, including hundreds of law review articles, occasional…
My Presentations on the Obama Administration’s “Privacy Bill of Rights” and the Proposed Amendments to the EU Data Privacy Directive
By Eric Goldman Many of you probably haven’t heard about the “CONSENT” project in Europe, but you probably will. The CONSENT project is a multi-year, multi-million dollar research project, funded by the European Union, to conduct empirical research on consumer…
Ongoing Website Editing Doesn’t Trump Single Publication Rule–Yeager v. Bowlin
By Eric Goldman Yeager v. Bowlin, No. 10-15297 (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2012) The single publication rule says that the statute of limitations starts with the first publication of the work, and so long as the work doesn’t change, further…
Another Case Says No Liability for Linking to Allegedly Defamatory Content, Plus a Recap (Guest Blog Post)
Vazquez v. Buhl, 2012 WL 3641581 (Conn. Super. July 17, 2012) [Eric’s Note: Sam Bayard is an associate at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in New York. I got to know him during his stint at the Citizen Media Law Project….