April 2007 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman * Rebecca blogs on CollegeNET, Inc. v. XAP Corp., 2007 WL 927946 (D. Or. March 26, 2007), where a jury awarded $4.5M in damages under 43(a) because the defendant had a privacy policy saying it wouldn’t disclose…
Utah Legislators Realizing They Screwed Up By Banning Keyword Advertising
By Eric Goldman Linda Fantin at the Salt Lake Tribune reports on the meeting between Utah legislators and various technology companies (Google, eBay, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, 1-800 Contacts and Overstock.com) to discuss the recently enacted Utah Trademark Protection Act banning…
Quiznos Sued for User-Created Ads–Subway v. Quiznos
By Eric Goldman Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. QIP Holders, LLC, 2007 WL 1186026 (D. Conn. April 19, 2007) Hey all you UGC evangelists, listen up! UGC is terrific, but there can be a dark side regarding legal liability. This case…
New(ish) Report on 512 Takedown Notices
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND FREE SPEECH IN THE ONLINE WORLD: How Educational Institutions and Other Online Service Providers Are Coping with Cease and Desist Letters and Takedown Notices by Laura Quilter and Marjorie Heins You may recall that Laura Quilter co-wrote…
Google Sued for Defamatory Search Result–RSA Enterprises v. Bad Business Bureau
By Eric Goldman RSA Enterprises v. Bad Business Bureau, No. 2:07-cv-01882-HAA-ES (D.N.J. complaint filed April 23, 2007) Bad Business Bureau, a/k/a the Rip-off Report, is a well-known repeat Internet defendant (see this article from the Phoenix New Times explaining why)….
Utah Bans Keyword Advertising [Updated]
By Eric Goldman Utah SB 236 (the “Trademark Protection Act”), enacted March 19, 2007 Legislators enact stupid laws all of the time, but some laws transcend mere stupidity and produce a single 3 letter response: WTF? And no legislature has…
Ninth Circuit Opinion in Perfect 10 v. CCBill
By Eric Goldman Perfect 10, Inc. v. CCBill LLC, No. 04-57143, 04-57207 (9th Cir. March 29, 2007) The Ninth Circuit issued an important but characteristically quirky opinion in Perfect 10 v. CCBill. This omnibus opinion covered a lot of disparate…
The End is Near – Bertelsmann Settles EMI Claims Over Napster
By John Ottaviani Various sources are reporting that EMI has agreed to settle its copyright infringement lawsuit against Bertelsmann AG related to Bertelsmann’s investment in Napster. The settlement removes the last large record label with claims against Bertelsmann in the…
Viacom Sues YouTube
By Eric Goldman Viacom International, Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. (SDNY complaint filed March 13, 2007). Complaint available here. After public saber-rattling by Viacom and significant negotiations between the parties, Viacom finally pulled the trigger and sued YouTube for copyright infringement….
Affiliate Spam Liability is Fact Question–US v. Cyberheat
By Eric Goldman U.S. v. Cyberheat, Inc., 2007 WL 686678 (D. Ariz. March 2, 2007) This case deals with one of the great unresolved Cyberlaw questions: when is an online advertiser liable for the downstream behavior of its media outlets?…