Facebook Boasts/Taunts Undermine the Legal Defense for a Fight at a House Party–In re DLW
By Eric Goldman In the Matter of the Welfare of: D.L.W., Child, 2012 WL 171412 (Minn. App. Ct. Jan. 23, 2012) The opinion indicates the following facts: BP supplied DLW with $200 of dope for resale. Before DLW could move…
Comments on the Golan v. Holder Supreme Court Ruling (Guest Blog Post)
By Tyler Ochoa In a decision that favored the 1% (copyright owners) over the 99% (consumers and the public domain), the U.S. Supreme Court recently held that neither the Patent and Copyright Clause of the U.S. Constitution nor the First…
Photobucket Qualifies for the 512(c) Safe Harbor (Again)–Wolk v. Kodak
By Eric Goldman Wolk v. Kodak Imaging Network, Inc., 2012 WL 11270 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 3, 2012). Prior blog post on this case. As I’ve indicated before, blogging 17 USC 512 cases has gotten tedious because they are just TOO LONG….
Google Gets Significant Win in AdWords/Parked Domains Case
By Eric Goldman In re Google AdWords Litigation, 2012 WL 28068 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2012) Google defeated class certification in an AdWords-related case over Google’s placement of ads on parked domains. This almost certainly ends this case in practice,…
Just How Egregiously Must a Trademark Plaintiff Act Before a Court Awards Attorneys’ Fees to the Defendant?–1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com
By Eric Goldman 1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com, 2012 WL 113812 (D. Utah Jan. 13, 2012). Prior blog posts on the case dismissal in December 2010 and 1-800 Contacts’ fee dispute with its attorneys. The federal trademark statute says judges may…
Copyright Doe Defendant Can’t Quash Disclosure Subpoena Anonymously—Hard Drive Productions v. Does (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Elliott Alderman with brief comments from Eric [Eric’s introductory note: Elliott Alderman is an IP attorney in Washington DC. I asked if he could guest-blog this opinion after calling it to my attention.] Hard Drive Productions, Inc….
Attempted Trademark Workaround to 47 USC 230 Immunity Fails Badly—Ascentive v. PissedConsumer [Catch-Up Post]
By Eric Goldman [This is one of the top dozen or so most important Internet law opinions of 2011, but unfortunately it came out just as I was going into my exam-grading exile and I had to put blogging it…
Some Thoughts About Google Search Plus Your World (SPYW)
By Eric Goldman [Normally I don’t like to blog about these types of newsy product releases, especially when the facts are still being developed. However, I have spoken with some reporters about Search Plus Your World (see, e.g., this article…
TheDirty Denied 47 USC 230 Immunity–Jones v. Dirty World
By Eric Goldman Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment Recordings, LLC, 2012 WL 70426 (E.D. Ky. Jan. 10, 2012). Prior blog post on this case. A Kentucky federal judge rejected 47 USC 230 immunity for thedirty.com for third-party content. It’s entirely…
Updates on Transborder Copyright Enforcement Over “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”–Shropshire v. Canning
By Eric Goldman Shropshire v. Canning, 2012 WL 13658 (N.D.Cal. Jan. 4, 2012). Prior blog post. This dispute involves complicated facts, so here’s my understanding of what’s happening: The lawsuit involves the musical composition “Grandma Got Run Over by a…