17 USC 512(f) Preempts State Law Claims Over Bogus Copyright Takedown Notices–Amaretto v. Ozimals
By Eric Goldman Amaretto Ranch Breedables, LLC v. Ozimals, Inc., 2011 WL 2690437 (N.D. Cal. July 8, 2011). I generally like furry critters, but I’m beginning to hate the virtual horses and virtual bunnies for their deleterious effect on Internet…
Mortuary Sciences College Student Disciplined for Threatening Facebook Posts–Tatro v. University of Minnesota
By Eric Goldman Tatro v. University of Minnesota, 2011 WL 2672220 (Minn. App. Ct. July 11, 2011) This sounds like it could have been an episode of Six Feet Under! Tatro is a student in University of Minnesota’s mortuary sciences…
Virginia Appeals Court Affirms Conviction for Posting Threatening Rap Lyrics on MySpace — Holcomb v. Virginia
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Holcomb v. Virginia, 0546-10-1 (Va. Ct. App. June 7, 2011) Defendant was involved in a romantic relationship with the victim and fathered their child. The Defendant and the victim had a contentious custody dispute. Defendant posted…
June 2011 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Social Media * The Third Circuit issued its en banc rulings in Layshock v. Hermitage School District and J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, both involving school discipline against kids who created fake MySpace profiles of school…
“Hot Topics in UGC Liability” Talk Slides
By Eric Goldman Earlier this month, Internet law superstar Ian Ballon and I spoke for about 90 minutes on hot topics in Internet law. Watch the video by downloading or streaming (item #47) it. I spoke about recent legal developments…
Another Ripoff Report Win–A-1 Technology v. Magedson
By Eric Goldman [Note: I have a thick blogging queue of cases to tackle, so if I haven’t gotten to your recent favorites yet, a post may still be coming.] A-1 Technology, Inc. v. Magedson, 150033/10 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. June…
Injured Pedestrian Can’t Sue Google for Providing Faulty Map Information — Rosenberg v. Harwood
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Rosenberg v. Harwood, No. 100916536 (Utah District Court; May 27, 2011) [pdf] Lauren Rosenberg was struck by an automobile while walking along a rural highway “with heavy traffic and no sidewalks.” She sued the driver of…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 4
By Eric Goldman Social Media * The footballer superinjunction (for Ryan Giggs) was much bigger news in Britain than it was here. From my perspective, it was just another effort by a foreign government to squelch a Silicon Valley Internet…
Ripoff Report Gets Another Big 47 USC 230 Win–Asia Economic Institute v. Xcentric
By Eric Goldman Asia Economic Institute v. Xcentric Ventures LLC, 2:10-cv-01360-SVW -PJW (C.D. Cal. May 4, 2011) The AEI Ruling Keeping alive its truly remarkable winning streak, Ripoff Report got yet another decisive 47 USC 230 victory. This challenge came…
Updates on DoctoredReviews.com and Medical Justice
By Eric Goldman You may recall our April launch of DoctoredReviews.com, a website explaining why Medical Justice’s form agreement, the “Mutual Agreement to Maintain Privacy,” was a bad deal for doctors, patients and review websites. See a list of the…