17 USC 512(f) Claim Against “Twilight” Studio Survives Motion to Dismiss–Smith v. Summit Entertainment
By Eric Goldman Smith v. Summit Entertainment LLC, 2011 WL 2200599 (N.D.Ohio June 6, 2011). The THResq story on the complaint filing. Summit Entertainment produces the Twilight series of movies. Matt Smith, a/k/a Matt Heart, is a musician. He posted…
“Revisiting Search Engine Bias” Article Now Online
By Eric Goldman In 2006, I published an article entitled Search Engine Bias and the Demise of Search Engine Utopianism in the Yale Journal of Law & Technology. The paper was based on my presentation at a December 2005 conference…
Buying Personal Names for Keyword Ads Isn’t a Publicity Rights Violation–Habush v. Cannon
By Eric Goldman Habush v. Cannon, 09-CV-18149 (Wis. Cir. Ct. June 8, 2011). The June 2010 denial of the motion to dismiss. A good overview article from when the complaint was filed. Introduction A Wisconsin court has said that a…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 4
By Eric Goldman Social Media * The footballer superinjunction (for Ryan Giggs) was much bigger news in Britain than it was here. From my perspective, it was just another effort by a foreign government to squelch a Silicon Valley Internet…
Site Moderators Weren’t Agents of the Site–Cornelius v. BodyBuilding.com
By Eric Goldman Cornelius v. BodyBuilding.com, LLC, 2011 WL 2160358 (D. Idaho June 1, 2011) This case involves a nutritional supplement called Syntrax, which is available for sale on an e-commerce site BodyBuilding.com. The site supports users comments and message…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman Search Engines * Google is working on a deal with the DOJ over illegal pharmaceutical ads and has set aside $500M for fines. Some background on the problem. Google isn’t the only search engine with problematic pharmaceutical…
TheDirty Defeats Privacy Invasion Lawsuit–Dyer v. Dirty World
By Eric Goldman Dyer v. Dirty World LLC, 2011 WL 2173900 (D. Ariz. June 2, 2011). The summary judgment motion, Dyer’s opposition and thedirty’s reply. An ex-boyfriend submitted to thedirty.com 2 photos of Dyer in a bikini and a comment…
Ripoff Report Gets Another Big 47 USC 230 Win–Asia Economic Institute v. Xcentric
By Eric Goldman Asia Economic Institute v. Xcentric Ventures LLC, 2:10-cv-01360-SVW -PJW (C.D. Cal. May 4, 2011) The AEI Ruling Keeping alive its truly remarkable winning streak, Ripoff Report got yet another decisive 47 USC 230 victory. This challenge came…
Updates on DoctoredReviews.com and Medical Justice
By Eric Goldman You may recall our April launch of DoctoredReviews.com, a website explaining why Medical Justice’s form agreement, the “Mutual Agreement to Maintain Privacy,” was a bad deal for doctors, patients and review websites. See a list of the…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 2 (Copyright Edition)
By Eric Goldman * COICA is dead, but S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act, has arisen from its ashes. Criticisms from technologists and the EFF. * The Department of Homeland Security’s domain name seizures are probably the single worst US…