A Close Look at Missouri’s “Amy Hestir Student Protection Act” (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Sydney Muray, Certified Paralegal In the 1980s, a 12-year-old girl named Amy Hestir was manipulated by her seven-grade music teacher into an abusive sexual relationship that lasted over a year. While Amy suffered severe emotional trauma as…
Racy Teen Photos Posted to Facebook Are Constitutionally Protected Speech–TV v. Smith-Green
By Eric Goldman T.V. v. Smith-Green Community School Corp., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88403 (N.D. Ind. Aug. 10, 2011). It appears we will get a steady stream of legal rulings about teens being teens while playing around with Facebook accounts….
Defamation Claim Over Stock Board Discussion Easily Dismissed–Desai v. Clark
By Eric Goldman Desai v. Clark, 2011 WL 3359971 (N.D.Cal. August 2, 2011) I’ve been seeing a steady stream of defamation and related claims over discussions in stock message boards. This case is representative of what I’m seeing. Ketan Desai…
Newspaper’s Discussion About Trademark Owner Protected as Nominative Use–1 800 GET THIN v. Hiltzik
By Eric Goldman 1 800 GET THIN v. Hiltzik, 2:11-cv-00505-ODW -E (C.D. Cal. July 25, 2011) I’m sure any trademark experts reading this post are scratching their heads at the blog post title. Newspapers discussing a trademarked product qualify for…
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…