Q4 2014 & Q1 2015 Quick Links Part 4 (Potpourri)
Commerce * NAD tells CheapoAir that it can’t run keyword ads showing the lowest priced flight in its database if it can’t deliver that fare to the consumer. * United Airlines sues 22-year-old who found a method for buying cheaper…
Court Might Enforce A Contract Ban On Consumer Reviews (Forbes Cross-Post)
Claude and Violaine Galland own an apartment in Paris, France. They offer it for rental through VRBO, an online service for vacation rentals. The Gallands’ rental agreement include the following language: “The tenants agree not to use blogs or websites…
Q4 2014 & Q1 2015 Quick Links Part 3 (Facebook)
* AP: Facebook Tells DEA To Stop Operating Fake Profile Pages. Really, that even needs to be said??? Facebook’s letter. WSJ Law Blog: U.S. to Pay Woman $134,000 for Impersonating Her on Facebook * What do people mean when they “like”…
Q4 2014 & Q1 2015 Quick Links Part 2 (Dating, Sex, Pornography)
Dating and Sex * The Atlantic: The Adultery Arms Race * NY Times: Extramarital Dating Site Unsettles the Land of Discreet Affairs * San Francisco Magazine: The cold mathematics of sugar daddy dating. * FTC: Online Dating Service Agrees to…
Scribd Must Comply With The Americans With Disabilities Act (Forbes Cross-Post)
The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is an important civil rights law intended to ensure that people with physical disabilities can enjoy the same social and economic interactions as everyone else. The law had ambitious visions about social equality, but…
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”….
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…
It Takes a Default Judgment to Win a 17 USC 512(f) Case–Automattic v. Steiner
In enacting the DMCA’s notice-and-takedown system, Congress knew copyright owners and others might send takedown notices overzealously. To discourage abuses of the notice-and-takedown system, Congress enacted 17 USC 512(f) to create a new cause of action for sending bogus takedown…
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…
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…