17 USC 512(f) Claim Against “Twilight” Studio Survives Motion to Dismiss–Smith v. Summit Entertainment
By Eric Goldman Smith v. Summit Entertainment LLC, 2011 WL 2200599 (N.D.Ohio June 6, 2011). The THResq story on the complaint filing. Summit Entertainment produces the Twilight series of movies. Matt Smith, a/k/a Matt Heart, is a musician. He posted…
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…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 2 (Copyright Edition)
By Eric Goldman * COICA is dead, but S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act, has arisen from its ashes. Criticisms from technologists and the EFF. * The Department of Homeland Security’s domain name seizures are probably the single worst US…
Copyright and Tattoos: Hangover II Injunction Denied, But the Copyright Owner Got Some Good News Too–Whitmill v. Warner Bros. (Guest Blog Post)
by Yvette Joy Liebesman [Eric’s note: Yvette is a law professor at Saint Louis University specializing in copyrights and trademarks. She attended the hearing and sent in this first-hand field report!] Whitmill v. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 4:11-cv-00752 (E.D. Mo.)….
College Course Description Aggregator Loses First Round in Fight Against Competitor in Scraping Case — CollegeSource v. AcademyOne
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] CollegeSource, Inc. v. AcademyOne, Inc., 10-3542 (E.D. Pa.; Apr. 22, 2011) This is a scraping case between CollegeSource and its competitor AcademyOne. It looks like it’s part of a long running dispute…
Another Ruling that the Americans with Disabilities Act Doesn’t Apply to Websites–Ouellette v. Viacom
By Eric Goldman Ouellette v. Viacom: The magistrate report: 2011 WL 1882780 (D. Mont. March 31, 2011). The judge’s approval of the magistrate’s report: 2011 WL 1883190 (D. Mont. May 17, 2011). The original complaint (he filed an amended complaint…
Thoughts on the Lawsuit Over the @OMGFacts Twitter Account — Deck v. Spartz, Inc.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Deck v. Spartz, Inc., 2:11-cv-01123-JAM-DAD (E.D. Ca.; Apr. 26, 2011) (Complaint) (Agreement) An Associated Press story reports on the lawsuit over the @OMGFacts Twitter account. (Here’s a link to the story with comments from Professor Goldman.)…
Twitpic Modifies Terms and Claims Exclusive Rights to Distribute Photos Uploaded to Twitpic
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] I posted about the dispute between a photographer and Agence France-Presse over images AFP allegedly downloaded via Twitpic and used without permission. AFP argued that the license terms of Twitter or Twitpic authorized its use of…
Another Defense-Favorable Righthaven Ruling–Righthaven v. Choudhry
By Eric Goldman Righthaven v. Choudhry, 2011 WL 1743839 (D. Nev. May 3, 2011) This lawsuit involves the “Vdara Death-Ray” image published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which has been the basis of numerous Righthaven lawsuits. In this case, Choudhry…
Cease & Desist Letter to iTunes Isn’t Covered by 17 USC 512(f)–Red Rock v. UMG
By Eric Goldman Rock River Communications, Inc. v. Universal Music Group, Inc., 2011 WL 1598916 (C.D.Cal. April 27, 2011) We continue to get more cases telling us what 17 USC 512(f), the cause of action for bogus copyright takedown notices,…