Do Employers Own LinkedIn Groups Created By Employees?–CDM v. Sims
Simms worked for plaintiff CDM Media but switched jobs to work for Box, allegedly one of plaintiff’s larger customers. Plaintiff alleges that Simms violated a non-compete and misappropriated its trade secrets. Among other issues, plaintiff sought control of a “LinkedIn…
GA Supreme Court Fixes Overbroad Injunction Against Message Board Operator–Chan v. Ellis
This case involves message board posts by a community that criticized Ellis’s copyright enforcement efforts. Ellis sought and obtained a protection order against Chan, the operator of the message board, on the legal grounds that the users’ posts constituted “stalking”….
In IMDb Privacy Case, 9th Circuit Rejects Hoang’s Appeal
Hoang alleged that IMDb improperly used her personal information to find out her real age and published her real age on its website. She argued that this harmed her employment prospects in the industry. The jury ruled for IMDb. Hoang…
Morel Denied Attorneys’ Fees In Long-Running Suit Over Photos Lifted From Twitpic
Daniel Morel uploaded iconic Haiti earthquake photos to Twitpic and shared them via Twitter. Getty Images and AFP republished the photos without permission, and Morel scored a big $1.2M verdict when the jury ruled in his favor. However, the court…
Court Says Uber and Lyft Drivers May be Employees
Drivers for Uber and Lyft claimed they are employees, not independent contractors. Two different judges hearing these cases both held that factual questions preclude summary judgment in favor of Uber and Lyft. As Judge Chhabria, who is hearing the Lyft…
Theater Employee’s Post-Termination Blogging Isn’t a Matter of “Public Concern”
This is a long-running and vitriolic dispute between James Ryan and Yvonne Johnson. Johnson was the director of the Spokane Civic Theater. She hired Ryan to be the music director. A few months after the hiring, Johnson fired Ryan allegedly…
Trial Court Doesn’t Unmask Parodist Twitterers
Plantiffs are trying to unmask Twitter users who make derogatory posts about the plaintiff corporate entities and their CEO. (Initial blog post about the case filing here.) They filed suit in the Western District of Washington, and sought and were…
Two Recent Spam Cases Look at Falsification of Origin and Subject Line Claims
Wagner v. Spire Vision: This is a spam lawsuit alleging receipt of emails in violation of California’s spam statute. There are 25 emails at issue. Header information claims: The California statute prohibits “falsified, misrepresented, or forged” header information. The court…
Which Was Dumber–Trash-Talking Tweeting, Or The Decision To Prosecute For It?
Robert Metzinger made the following four tweets during the 2013 World Series in St. Louis: Going to be tailgating with a #PressureCooker during games 3-4-5 in #STL during #WorldSeries. #STLStrong #GoCards #postseason from Springfield, MO. Putting my loft up for…
The “Browsewrap”/”Clickwrap” Distinction Is Falling Apart
It is somewhat surprising that, in 2015, courts are still hashing out online consumer contract formation issues. After all, the seminal case, Specht v. Netscape, was decided over a dozen years ago. Yet, a few recent cases show that companies often don’t…