Consumer Review Website Wins 230 Dismissal in Fourth Circuit–Nemet Chevrolet v. ConsumerAffairs.com
By Eric Goldman Nemet Chevrolet Ltd. v. ConsumerAffairs.com, Inc., 2009 WL 5126224 (4th Cir. Dec. 29, 2009) Introduction Citing 47 USC 230, today the Fourth Circuit upheld a 12(b)(6) dismissal of defamation and related claims against a consumer review website….
November-December 2009 Quick Links, Part 1
By Eric Goldman Trademarks/Domain Names * Yahoo and Mary Kay settled Mary Kay’s trademark lawsuit over Yahoo’s email shortcuts. * uBID Inc. v. The GoDaddy Group Inc., No. 09-cv-2123 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 5, 2009). uBid’s anti-domain name parking lawsuit failed…
Ripoff Report Not Bound by Takedown Injunction Against User–Blockowicz v. Williams
By Eric Goldman Blockowicz v. Williams, 1:09-cv-03955 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 21, 2009) Last month, I wrote about the interaction between 47 USC 230 and FRCP 65. FRCP 65 says that anyone acting in concert with a litigant is obligated to…
Website Initially Denied 230 Dismissal But Gets It on Appeal–Shiamili v. Real Estate Group
By Eric Goldman Shiamili v. Real Estate Group of New York, Inc., 2009 WL 4842470 (N.Y. App. Div. Dec. 17, 2009) Unfortunately, I am only working from a short and opaque appellate memo. It appears that the defendant operated a…
Top Cyberlaw Developments of 2009
By John E. Ottaviani (Thanks to Eric for letting me post this list here!) [Eric’s note: some of you may recall John, a regular blog guest contributor from 2005-07. It’s great to have another contribution from him.] Eric will post…
Barnes v. Yahoo Survives Dismissal Motion on Remand
By Eric Goldman Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., 2009 WL 4823840 (D. Or. Dec. 11, 2009) You recall Barnes v. Yahoo, the case where Yahoo promised to promptly take down a fake profile created by a third party but didn’t do…
Denver University “Cyber Civil Rights” Symposium Recap
By Eric Goldman The week before Thanksgiving, I attended an unusual symposium sponsored by the University of Denver Law Review entitled “Cyber Civil Rights: New Challenges for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in our Networked Age.” The symposium covered standard…
Record Label Sues Google and Microsoft for Linking to Infringing Music–Blues Destiny v. Google
By Eric Goldman Blues Destiny Records LLC v. Google, Inc., 3:09-cv-00538-WS-EMT (N.D. Fla. complaint filed Dec. 7, 2009) [warning: 1.5MB PDF] Blues Destiny Records, a small Blues music label, doesn’t like RapidShare, a website that allows users to publish files,…
Ninth Circuit Rebuffs Another CAN-SPAM Plaintiff — Asis Internet Services v. Azoogle.com, Inc.
[Post by Venkat] The Ninth Circuit recently rejected [pdf] two appeals brought by CAN-SPAM plaintiff Asis Internet Services. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Azoogle and awarded costs. See Eric’s earlier blog post on that ruling. Asis…
Case Western “Signifiers in Cyberspace” Conference Recap
By Eric Goldman In mid-November, I attended a conference at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio entitled “Signifiers in Cyberspace: Domain Names & Online Trademarks.” My notes: David Fewer spoke about Canada’s WHOIS policy. The old…