June 2011 Quick Links, Part 2

By Eric Goldman Social Media * The Third Circuit issued its en banc rulings in Layshock v. Hermitage School District and J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, both involving school discipline against kids who created fake MySpace profiles of school…

June 2011 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright & Trademark Edition)

By Eric Goldman Copyright * Good news: the US government is funding alternative networks that dissidents can use to communicate when the Internet is censored by repressive regimes. Bad news: the US government is teaching the rest of the world…

Recapping Righthaven Developments from the Past Two Weeks

By Eric Goldman I blogged about Righthaven two weeks ago (“Righthaven Benchslapped in Ruling Saying It Lacks Standing“) and then went offline during a business trip to Russia (I have more to say about that trip shortly, but you can…

“Hot Topics in UGC Liability” Talk Slides

By Eric Goldman Earlier this month, Internet law superstar Ian Ballon and I spoke for about 90 minutes on hot topics in Internet law. Watch the video by downloading or streaming (item #47) it. I spoke about recent legal developments…

Another Ripoff Report Win–A-1 Technology v. Magedson

By Eric Goldman [Note: I have a thick blogging queue of cases to tackle, so if I haven’t gotten to your recent favorites yet, a post may still be coming.] A-1 Technology, Inc. v. Magedson, 150033/10 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. June…

George Mason “Law and Economics of Search Engines and Online Advertising” Conference Recap

By Eric Goldman Last week I participated in a conference entitled “The Law and Economics of Search Engines and Online Advertising” at George Mason Law School, sponsored by Google. In light of this week’s disclosures about the FTC, state AGs…

What Would a Government-Operated Search Engine Look Like in the US?

By Eric Goldman [Today’s WSJ announcement that the FTC plans to subpoena Google reminds us that search engine bias issues are heating up rather than winding down. I recently posted my article recapping the last 5 years of developments on…

A Century of Trademark Law: Looking Back and Looking Forward (Notes from my INTA Annual Meeting Talk)

By Eric Goldman At the INTA Annual Meeting in San Francisco in May, I spoke on a panel with Miles Alexander of Kilpatrick Townsend and The Rt Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob, now a professor at University College London. The…

Righthaven Benchslapped in Ruling Saying It Lacks Standing–Righthaven v. Democratic Underground

By Eric Goldman Righthaven LLC v. Democratic Underground, LLC, 2:10-cv-01356-RLH-GWF (D. Nev. June 14, 2011) This is another stinging defeat for Righthaven. The judge emphatically rejects Righthaven’s substantive arguments about its copyright assignment from Stephens Media and harshly criticizes Righthaven’s…

Advertiser Fails in Suit Against Trademark Owner over Google Trademark Complaint–Pandora Jewelers v. Pandora Jewelry

By Eric Goldman Pandora Jewelers 1995, Inc. v. Pandora Jewelry LLC, 2011 WL 2174012 (S.D. Fla. June 2, 2011) The plaintiff is a long-time single-storefront jewelry retailer in Florida (in a strip mall, naturally) with an e-commerce website. Pandora Jewelry,…