Availability of Client Data on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google Sinks Trade Secrets Claim — Sasqua Group v. Courtney
[Post by Venkat with a brief comment from Eric] Sasqua Group, Inc. v. Courtney, 2010 WL 3613855 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 2, 2010) Background: Sasqua Group and its principal (Tors) ran a executive search consulting firm for professionals in the financial services…
Reunion.com Back to District Court — Hoang et al v. Reunion.com Inc
[Post by Venkat] Hoang et al v. Reunion.com Inc., Case No. 08-cv-03518-MMC (N.D. Cal.) Reunion.com is a spam case that’s generated some blog fodder, to say the least: “CAN-Spam-a-Friend?–Hoang v. Reunion.com,” “Reunion.com Revisited,” and “Reunion.com Revisited Again: Claims Under CA…
Fifth Circuit Blesses Vistaprint’s Rewards Program Sign-Up Process — Bott v. Vistaprint USA Inc.
[Post by Venkat] Bott v. Vistaprint USA Inc., No. 09-20648 (5th Cir.; Aug. 23, 2010). I recently blogged about an online rewards program class action which survived a motion to dismiss. (In re: Easysaver Rewards Litigation: “Internet Rewards Program Class…
Software Vendor Trumps First Sale Doctrine via License–Vernor v. Autodesk
[Post by Venkat, with some comments from Eric below] Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc., Case No. 09-35969 (9th Cir. Sept. 10, 2010) [pdf]. The Ninth Circuit last week issued an opinion in one of the two cases addressing whether a transaction…
Company Not Responsible for Harassive Comments by Coworker on Personal Facebook Page — Amira Jabbar v. Travel Services
[Post by Venkat] Amira Jabbar v. Travel Services (D.P.R.; Sept. 10, 2010) (Order on reconsideration) Plaintiff brought a hostile work environment claim against her employer. Plaintiff alleged, among other things, that the employer failed to properly investigate derogatory comments made…
Veteran Spam Plaintiff Abandons Spam Lawsuit — Asis Internet v. Subscriberbase
[Post by Venkat] Asis Internet Servs. v. Subscriberbase, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93518 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 8, 2010). Asis is a veteran spam plaintiff, whose lawsuits have generated a fair amount of blog fodder. (See, for example, posts here, here,…
Google Settles Buzz User Privacy Litigation
[Post by Venkat] In re Google Buzz User Privacy Litigation, Case No. 5:10-CV-00672-JW (N.D. Cal.) (Sept. 03, 2010). Google recently settled the lawsuits relating to its privacy practices for Buzz. (h/t Wendy Davis) The terms of the settlement, which are…
Runescape Publisher Denied Preliminary Injunction Against Maker of Auto-Player Software — Jagex Ltd. v. Impulse Software
[Post by Venkat] Jagex Ltd. v. Impulse Software, et al., Case No. 10-10216-NMG (D. Mass.) (Aug. 16, 2010) Jagex operates “Runescape,” a popular and free online role-playing game. The game has over 130 million accounts, and users spend a significant…
FTC Dings PR Firm for Fake Reviews — In re Reverb Communications
[Post by Venkat] In re Reverb Communications, FTC No. 092-3199 (Aug. 26, 2010) (Settlement) Professor Goldman has posted a bunch about the FTC’s endorsement guidelines. (See, e.g., “Do the FTC’s New Endorsement/Testimonial Rules Violate 47 USC 230?;” “A Fuller Explanation…
Internet Rewards Program Class Action Survives Initial Motion to Dismiss — In re Easysaver Rewards
[Post by Venkat] In re: Easysaver Rewards Litigation (S.D. Cal.) (Aug. 13, 2010) Plaintiffs brought a class action lawsuit against Provide-Commerce (which operated Pro.Flowers.com). The lawsuit alleged that effecting transactions on the Proflowers website resulted in plaintiffs being unwittingly enrolled…