Using Links as Citations Helps Gizmodo Defeat a Defamation Claim–Redmond v. Gawker Media

By Eric Goldman Redmond v. Gawker Media LLC, 2012 WL 3243507 (Cal. App. Ct. August 10, 2012) Gizmodo.com published an article, Smoke & Mirrors: The Greatest Scam in Tech, about Redmond’s venture, Peep Telephony. In addition to using the word…

Breastfeeding Mom Can Sue Video Producer Despite Signing a Blanket Release–Sahoury v. Meredith

By Eric Goldman Sahoury v. Meredith Corp., 2:11-cv-05180-KSH-PS (D. N.J. Aug. 2, 2012) Sahoury consented to being video-recorded while breastfeeding for inclusion in an instructional video. She claims that the video producers orally agreed to two conditions: (1) the instructional…

Craigslist’s Latest Moves Show It Cares More About Its Market Position Than Delivering Value to Its Users (Forbes Cross-Post)

By Eric Goldman Craigslist is resorting to increasingly desperate measures to control its users’ classified ad listings. Last month, Craigslist sued 3Taps and Padmapper for scraping and repackaging its classified ads.   Since then, it has extracted greater IP rights from its…

EA Faces Uphill Battle in Its Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Zynga (Partial Forbes Cross-Post)

By Eric Goldman [Eric’s note: I am still experimenting with how to write for different audiences. Below is the first draft of a post I wrote for my Forbes Tertium Quid blog. You’ll see it’s written for a lay audience,…

Now Available: My Internet Law Syllabus and Reader for Fall 2012

By Eric Goldman I posted my syllabus and my course reader (a $7.50 download at Gumroad) for Fall 2012. If you teach Internet Law (or hope to), email me if you’d like a free copy of the reader plus my…

The Newest Olympic Sport: Evasion of Geolocation (Guest Blog Post)

By Guest Blogger Marketa Trimble The Olympic Games can be credited for spreading awareness about and generating excitement for sports that might otherwise be unknown in various parts of the world. The global promotion of sports is one of the…

What Are Trademark Defendants’ Obligations to Clean Up the Internet After a Trademark Injunction?

By Eric Goldman We’re continuing to get cases interpreting a defendant’s obligation after a court has issued an injunction against continuing to use a trademark. (The same basic issue arises after a settlement agreement). I don’t know that we have…

Video Embedding Site Isn’t a Contributory Copyright Infringer, But Sideloading Could Be Direct Infringement–Flava Works v. myVidster

By Eric Goldman Flava Works, Inc. v. Gunter, No. 11-3190 (7th Cir. Aug. 2, 2012). Prior blog post on district court ruling. myVidster is a “social bookmarking” website that allows users to link to videos hosted elsewhere on the Internet…

Physical Props for Teaching the IP Survey Course

By Eric Goldman [Note: this post is intended for readers who teach the IP Survey course or related courses. If that’s not you, you might want to skip this post.] I’m sure many of you are aware of the Georgetown…

Backpage Gets Important 47 USC 230 Win Against Washington Law Trying to Combat Online Prostitution Ads (Forbes Cross-Post & More)

By Eric Goldman [I’ve added some bonus content to the end of this Forbes cross-post] In 1996, Congress enacted a powerful statutory immunity for user-generated content, located at 47 U.S.C. 230 (“Section 230”).  Section 230 says that websites aren’t liable…