Section 230 Protects Another Newspaper From Liability For User Comments–Hupp v. Freedom Communications
Hupp v. Freedom Communications, Inc., 2013 WL 5947033 (Cal. App. Ct. Nov. 7, 2013) This is a minor case involving a pro se plaintiff and a straightforward application of the law, so normally I wouldn’t blog it. However, over the…
California’s New Law Shows It’s Not Easy To Regulate Revenge Porn (Forbes Cross-Post)
California enacted a new law against “revenge” porn, sometimes called “involuntary” porn. SB 255, codified as California Penal Code 647(j)(4). The law says it is “disorderly conduct” for a defendant to take intimate and confidential recordings, such as photos or…
Yelp Gets Another Anti-SLAPP Victory in Lawsuit Over Consumer Review—Bernath v. Tabitha J.
Bernath v. Tabitha J., 1305-06167 (Ore. Cir. Ct. Aug. 26, 2013) The plaintiff, who is also a lawyer (and surely you recall how I feel about lawyer-plaintiffs), has repeatedly written about this case online focusing on different facts, but I’m…
TripAdvisor’s “Dirtiest Hotels” List Isn’t Defamatory—Seaton v. TripAdvisor
Seaton v. TripAdvisor LLC, 2013 WL 4525870 (6th Cir. Aug. 28, 2013) TripAdvisor published a list of the “Dirtiest Hotels” based on users’ rankings, including some unflattering quotes from users’ reviews. One of the listed hotels sued TripAdvisor for defamation…
Telephone Consumer Protection Act Case Update – Summer 2013 Edition
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] There are a ton of TCPA cases out there. I don’t have the resources to track all of them, but here are a few that came up on my radar screen over the past few months….
App Stores Aren’t Liable For Third Party Apps–Evans v. HP (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Evans v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 2013 WL 4426359 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 15, 2013) Due to the growing importance of mobile devices, app stores are among the most powerful intermediaries in the Internet ecosystem. With great power comes great…
Perfect 10 Can’t Sue Yandex for Out-of-Country Activity (Catch-up Post)
By Eric Goldman Perfect 10, Inc. v. Yandex N.V., 2013 WL 3668818 (N.D. Cal. July 12, 2013) This case has sat in my blog queue for a few weeks because I’m still not sure what to make of it. I…
Gun Classified Ads Website Isn’t Liable for Murder–Vesely v. Armslist
By Eric Goldman Vesely v. Armslist, LLC , 1:13-cv-00607 (N.D. Ill. July 29, 2013) Armslist runs an online classified ad website for guns. After finding each other on Armslist, Ladera sold a gun to Smirnov, who used the gun to…
The Latest Attempt to Use Copyright Law to Remove Negative Consumer Reviews–Small Justice v. Xcentric (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman [Note: as you know, I closed comments on this blog in 2006 because of a virulent comment spam attack. Sometimes I miss having comments, but then again, seeing the comments I got at Forbes in response to…
YouTube Gets Easy Section 230 Win–Gavra v Google
By Eric Goldman Gavra v. Google Inc., 2013 WL 3788241 (N.D. Cal. July 17, 2013). The complaint. I [heart] easy 47 USC 230 cases. Here, a Romanian lawyer felt 13 YouTube clips, posted by an ex-client, defamed her. After sending…