Siblings Use Publicity Rights To Try To Block Sister From Blogging About Mom--In re Reynolds

Siblings Use Publicity Rights To Try To Block Sister From Blogging About Mom–In re Reynolds

For lawyers, family feuds are gold. There’s nothing quite as vituperative as family members squabbling in court. For the lawyers, familial acrimony translates into irrational overspending on legal fees. Ca-ching! Today’s family feud involves a mom, Lois Reynolds, and her…

Minnesota Supreme Court Reverses Conviction for Assisting Suicide Online

Minnesota Supreme Court Reverses Conviction for Assisting Suicide Online

This is a case involving some dark behavior by William Francis Melchert-Dinkel, who visited forums frequented by suicidal individuals and encouraged at least two people to commit suicide. In one case, a 32 year old from England hanged himself sometime…

Q1 2014 Quick Links, Part 2

Q1 2014 Quick Links, Part 2

Social Media * Collins v. Louisiana State Police, No. 13-412 (La. Ct. App. Oct. 23, 2013): a person’s online life depicted in social media is commonly not intended to reflect reality as much as it is intended to engender discourse. Therefore,…

Ripoff Report's Latest Section 230 Win--Seldon v. Magedson

Ripoff Report’s Latest Section 230 Win–Seldon v. Magedson

It’s been a while since I blogged a Ripoff Report case. I’m sure you’ve missed hearing about them, but their litigation docket has calmed down somewhat since their heyday. This pro se lawsuit, rehashing tired arguments that have failed repeatedly…

Revenge Porn Is Bad, But It's Not GoDaddy's Fault (Forbes Cross-Post)

Revenge Porn Is Bad, But It’s Not GoDaddy’s Fault (Forbes Cross-Post)

Revenge porn is odious, but so is a judge’s disregard for a federal law. In a lawsuit by revenge porn victims over the controversial revenge porn website Texxxan.com, a Texas state trial court had ruled that Texxxan’s web host, GoDaddy,…

Google, Yahoo and Amazon Beat Defamation Claims--Kabbaj v. Google

Google, Yahoo and Amazon Beat Defamation Claims–Kabbaj v. Google

The pro se plaintiff alleges that unknown Does defamed him. He sued Google, Yahoo and Amazon for this defamation alleging: (1) Google administered a blogger service and profile pages that contained defamatory and threatening communications; (2) Amazon created several accounts…

Internet Law Professors File Amicus Brief in 'Innocence of Muslims' Case--Garcia v. Google

Internet Law Professors File Amicus Brief in ‘Innocence of Muslims’ Case–Garcia v. Google

I’m sure you are familiar with Garcia v. Google, the copyright lawsuit against YouTube over the Innocence of Muslims video that led to a fatwa being issued against Garcia, an actress in the movie. In a truly awful opinion from…

Twibel Ruling: Tweeting That Someone is “Fucking Crazy” is Not Defamatory

Twibel Ruling: Tweeting That Someone is “Fucking Crazy” is Not Defamatory

This is a case that addresses how defamation can play out on Twitter, which is a perennial favorite of mine (perhaps owing to my excessive participation in that medium). Feld tried to buy a horse (“Munition”) that would become a…

Court Lauds Blogs "As A Means Of Free Dissemination Of News And Public Comment"--Comins v. Vanvoorhis

Court Lauds Blogs “As A Means Of Free Dissemination Of News And Public Comment”–Comins v. Vanvoorhis

A number of states have “retraction” laws that require plaintiffs to demand a retraction from media defendants before suing for defamation. How these laws apply to Internet publishers arose early in the development of Internet jurisprudence. For example, in the…

Of Course The First Amendment Protects Baidu's Search Engine, Even When It Censors Pro-Democracy Results (Forbes Cross-Post)

Of Course The First Amendment Protects Baidu’s Search Engine, Even When It Censors Pro-Democracy Results (Forbes Cross-Post)

Baidu.com is the leading search engine in China. The plaintiffs in this case have published materials online about the democracy movement in China. They allege that, at the request of the Chinese government, Baidu excludes pro-democracy search results, including their…