TweetPhoto (now Plixi) To Start Charging For Twitter Celeb’s Pics
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] I posted last week about the AFP/Morel Haiti photo debacle where the court rejected AFP’s arguments that it had a license to photos posted to Twitpic by virtue of the Twitter & Twitpic terms of service….
Contrary LinkedIn Evidence Crushes Witness’ Testimony — Blayde v. Harrah’s Entertainment
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Blayde v. Harrah’s Entertainment, 08-cv-02798 (W.D. Tenn.; Dec. 17, 2010) By my guesstimate, LinkedIn ranks last among the major social networks for being invoked as a source of evidence in court cases. MySpace is the runaway…
Lawyer-Spam Plaintiff Loses in the Sixth Circuit Over Allegedly Misleading DISH Network Emails — Ferron v. Echostar
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Ferron v. Echostar Satellite LLC, 09-4407 (6th Cir.; Dec. 28, 2010) Ferron brought claims against Dish Network and its retail and marketing partners alleging that he had been deceived by the terms of email offers sent…
UMG Can’t Enforce “Not for Sale” Restrictions on Promo CDs — UMG v. Augusto
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with additional comments from Eric] UMG Recordings, Inc. v. Augusto, No. 08-55998 (9th Cir.; Jan 4, 2011) The Ninth Circuit issued the third of its three opinions dealing with the first sale doctrine. (Vernor v. Autodesk…
Court Rejects Constitutional Challenge to TCPA Based on Vagueness in “Prior Express Consent” Exception — Kramer v. Autobytel, Inc.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Kramer v. Autobytel, Inc., et al., 10-cv-02722 CW (N.D. Cal.; Dec. 29, 2010) We’ve blogged a bunch about cases involving defendants accused of sending text messages – none of them have resolved favorably in favor of…
Court Rejects Agence France-Presse’s Attempt to Claim License to Haiti Earthquake Photos Through Twitter/Twitpic Terms of Service — AFP v. Morel
[Post by Venkat with a few comments from Eric] Agence France Presse v. Morel, 10 Civ. 2730 (WHP) (S.D.N.Y.; Dec. 23, 2010) The Southern District of New York issued an order denying AFP’s request to dismiss photographer Daniel Morel’s copyright…
MySpace Profile and Photo Evidence Used to Support Conviction for “Participation in Criminal Gang Activity” — State v. McCraney
[Post by Venkat] State v. McCraney, 2010-Ohio-6128 (Ohio Ct. App.; Dec. 15, 2010) There has been a proliferation of MySpace (and more recently, Facebook) cases in the criminal context. Most of these cases involve evidentiary issues where the prosecution seeks…
Deep Packet Inspection (NebuAd) Litigation: Court Dismisses ECPA Claim but CFAA Claim Continues
[Post by Venkat with comments by Eric] Mortensen v. Bresnan Comm., CV 10-13-BLG-RFC (D. Mont. Dec. 13, 2010) A district court in Montana hearing one of the many NebuAd “deep packet inspection” lawsuits partially granted a defendant’s motion to dismiss….
Court Rejects Plaintiff’s Proposal of Class Notice via Twitter, SMS, and Email — Jermyn v. Best Buy
[Post by Venkat] Jermyn v. Best Buy, No. 08-Cv-00214-CM-DCF (S.D.N.Y.; Dec. 06, 2010) Plaintiffs brought a class action against Best Buy alleging that Best Buy failed to honor its price-match guarantee. The court certified the class with respect to New…
Ninth Circuit’s Mixed Opinion in Glider/WoW Bot Case — MDY Industries v. Blizzard
[Post by Venkat, with comments from Eric] MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Nos. 09-15932 & 16044 (9th Cir. Dec. 14, 2010) The Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in the Blizzard Glider “bot” case, which is one of three cases…