Grokster Supreme Court Ruling
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd, Case No. 04-480. (US Supreme Court June 27, 2005). What Happened The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the Ninth Circuit’s upholding of summary judgment for the defendants, sending the case back to the lower courts…
Problems with Congress’ Latest Anti-Porn Law
Congress’ latest anti-porn attack is codified in 18 U.S.C. 2257. a law which requires anyone producing or distributing pornography to engage in some costly and logistically-difficulty verifications and record-keeping. Kurt Opsahl at EFF explains how this law affects more than…
Grokster Press Releases
The Grokster media frenzy has reached a fever pitch. Not only is the war of words taking over the mainstream press, but we’re seeing a bubble of activity in the press release databases. A couple of examples. Orrick’s Press Release…
AWOL Opinions
While we are on Grokster watch, I also have been thinking of two opinions that seem to have disappeared into the void: * Second Circuit opinion in 1-800 Contacts v. WhenU. The district court ruled in December 2003, the parties…
Grokster Watch
So just about all of my professional peers are on a Grokster opinion watch. Unless something weird happens, the opinion should come out either this Monday (June 20) or next (June 27). As this Monday grows closer, our collective anxiety…
Groups Sue to Strike Down Utah’s Anti-Internet Porn Law
King’s English, Inc. v. Shurtleff (D. Utah complaint filed June 9, 2005). As expected, the ACLU is leading a charge against Utah for their latest anti-porn initiative (HB 260). The AP story. Declan’s News.com story. I have already predicted that…
Talk on 47 USC 230
I’m giving a talk later today on 47 USC 230 at Southwestern Law School. This talk allowed me to organize my thoughts on the state of the law. My slides.
New Gripe Site Case–Faegre & Benson v. Purdy
Faegre & Benson v. Purdy, Civil File No. 03-6472 (D. Minn. Apr. 27, 2005). Another ruling in the long-running story of William Purdy, an anti-abortionist who uses extreme forms of gripe sites against his targets. This particular ruling was a…
Yahoo Sued for Allowing Child Porn Operators to Use Site Tools
Yahoo has been sued for allowing child pornographers to communicate with each other using hosting and messaging services from Yahoo Groups. Prediction: Yahoo will win this case on a motion to dismiss based on 47 USC 230. Why? There is…
Schwartz on Adware Advertisers
Ari Schwartz comes out swinging against adware advertisers, saying “Advertisers, too, should be pushed to take greater responsibility for the companies they advertise with.” His remarks raise a number of questions, including: 1) Is there something unique about the adware…