Is Sony’s DRM Spyware?

By Eric Goldman Sony’s DRM software generated lots of discussion and new information since my last post on the subject. The discussion (especially the many great comments I got in response to my previous post) has prompted me to change…

Rothman on Initial Interest Confusion

By Eric Goldman Jennifer Rothman, a new full-time law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, has published Initial Interest Confusion: Standing at the Crossroads of Trademark Law, 27 Cardozo L. Rev. 105 (2005). She uses the initial interest confusion…

Search Engine Indexing Case–Newborn v. Yahoo

By Eric Goldman Newborn v. Yahoo, Inc., 2005 WL 2416336 (DDC Sept. 27, 2005) We got a new case on search engine liability for indexing content. The importance of the topic makes the case blog-worthy, even though this particular case…

Adult Webmaster Criminally Prosecuted for User-Uploaded Photos

By Eric Goldman Chris Wilson runs a website called NowThatsFuckedUp.com (first page is office-safe; I didn’t look further!). The website describes itself as “an Amateur community for wife and girlfriend pictures,” and the photos contain graphic depictions of people engaged…

Sony, DRM and Trespass to Chattels

By Eric Goldman A minor storm is brewing over Sony’s installation of DRM software on users’ computers when they play Sony’s CDs. Sony’s software is installed as a “rootkit,” a difficult-to-remove installation, and it supports Sony’s DRM, which really irritates…

WhenU Opposition to 1-800 Contact’s Certiorari Petition

By Eric Goldman WhenU has filed its opposition to 1-800 Contact’s petition for certiorari from the US Supreme Court. WhenU’s main argument: “1-800 mischaracterizes the decision below as holding that the “covert” use of a trademark can never support an…

Domain Name Outage This Morning

By Eric Goldman This morning the blog suffered an outage due to a problem with the domain name renewal. With Rex’s help, we got everything straightened out and we should be back in business. Fortunately, the domain never really left…

Product Placement and the Apprentice TV Show

By Eric Goldman I’ve always been confused by the fuss over product placements. I know people generally don’t like advertisements, and I also know that people want to be told when something is an “advertisement.” But product placement occurs in…

Can Kids Bind Parents to EULAs?

By Eric Goldman Abramson v. America Online, 2005 US Dist. LEXIS 10095 (N.D. Tex. May 25, 2005). One of the great unresolved issues in Cyberlaw: if a kid downloads P2P file sharing software, are the parents responsible? This issue is…

Barnes on Adware Contracts

By Eric Goldman Wayne Barnes, a law professor at Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, has posted “Rethinking Spyware: Questioning the Propriety of Contractual Consent to Online Surveillance” to SSRN. The first 50 pages largely recap the technology and the…