Web Host Wins 230 Defense–Austin v. CrystalTech Web Hosting
By Eric Goldman Austin v. CrystalTech Web Hosting, 2005 WL 3489249 (Ariz. App. Div. Dec. 22, 2005) I can’t decide if defense wins under 230 are still worth blogging. Personally, I find them fascinating–I get a certain voyeuristic thrill watching…
Google Sued for Trademark Infringement Based on Third Level Subdomain–Jews for Jesus v. Google
By Eric Goldman Jews for Jesus v. Google, Inc., 05-CV-10684 (SDNY complaint filed Dec. 21, 2005) It’s no surprise that Google has been sued again for trademark infringement, but the basis of this lawsuit is surprising. Rather than another lawsuit…
City of Heroes Lawsuits Settled
By Eric Goldman A complex but interesting legal fight between Marvel and NCSoft, about City of Heroes players generating characters that look like Marvel-owned characters, has come to an end. The press release announcing the settlement. Settlement terms were not…
4th Circuit Upholds Internet Flame War Lawsuit Dismissal on 230 Grounds–Winter v. Bassett
Winter v. Bassett, No. 03-2176 (4th Cir. Dec. 12, 2005) This lawsuit involves one of those oh-so-messy Internet flame wars/personal disputes that prompted the creation of an anti-Steve Winter website. Winter then sued a variety of people, including the web…
The FTC, Adware Advertising and Badges of Shame
By Eric Goldman New FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz has embraced one of the favorite causes of the anti-adware grumblers: dry up adware funding by making adware advertisers feel some pain. According to AdAge, he recently said that the FTC might…
Another 47 USC 230 Case, Another Defense Win–Fair Housing Council v. Roommate.com
By Eric Goldman Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommate.com, LLC, 2005 WL 3299077 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 30, 2005) [actually 2004–see below] I’m not sure why this case took so long to hit Westlaw [see below for explanation]….
Supreme Court Denies 1-800 Contacts Cert Petition
By Eric Goldman Today the US Supreme Court denied 1-800 Contacts’ petition for certiorari of the second circuit opinion in 1-800 Contacts v. WhenU. I’m not surprised by the denial, but the bigger question is–now what for 1-800 Contacts’ campaign…
DMCA Online Safe Harbor Empirical Study by Urban and Quilter
By Eric Goldman Jennifer Urban of USC and Laura Quilter have released a working report entitled “Efficient Process or “Chilling Effects”? Takedown Notices Under Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.” To my knowledge, this is the first empirical…
Yahoo Wins Online Harassment Case Under 47 USC 230
By Eric Goldman Barnes v. Yahoo, 2005 WL 3005602 (D. Or. Nov. 8, 2005) Barnes claimed that her ex-boyfriend harassed her by creating Yahoo user profiles containing nude photos of her plus her contact info. Barnes also claimed that her…
Search Engine Indexing Case–Newborn v. Yahoo
By Eric Goldman Newborn v. Yahoo, Inc., 2005 WL 2416336 (DDC Sept. 27, 2005) We got a new case on search engine liability for indexing content. The importance of the topic makes the case blog-worthy, even though this particular case…