Second Circuit Ruling in Viacom v. YouTube Is a Bummer for Google and the UGC Community

By Eric Goldman Viacom International, Inc., v. YouTube, Inc., 10-3270-cv, 2012 WL 1130851 (2d Cir. April 5, 2012). The companion case is the Football Association Premier League Ltd. v. YouTube, 10-3342-cv Overview After five years in the courts, the Viacom…

Emailing the URL of an Allegedly Defamatory Post Immunized by 47 USC 230–Shrader v. Biddinger

By Eric Goldman Shrader v. Biddinger, 2012 WL 976032 (D. Colo. February 17, 2012). That ruling is the magistrate’s report. The judge adopted the magistrate report verbatim last week. The initial complaint. This case also produced an interesting 10th Circuit…

Another 512(f) Claim Fails–Ouellette v. Viacom

By Eric Goldman Ouellette v. Viacom Intern., Inc., 2012 WL 850921 (D. Mont. March 13, 2012). Prior blog post on the case. Ouellette brought a 17 USC 512(f) claim against Viacom for sending bogus takedown notices. As we know, it’s…

Text Spam Class Action Against Jiffy Lube Moves Forward – In re Jiffy Lube Int’l, Inc., Text Spam Litigation

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TheDirty Gets Its First 47 USC 230 Win–S.C. v. Dirty World

By Eric Goldman S.C. v. Dirty World LLC, No. 11-CV-00392-DW (W.D. Mo. March 12, 2012) thedirty got a 47 USC 230 immunity–the first time it has qualified for Section 230–in the lawsuit by Stephanie Crabtree (S.C.). This isn’t thedirty’s first…

Another Newspaper Isn’t Liable for User Website Comments Per 47 USC 230–Spreadbury v. Bitterroot Library

By Eric Goldman Spreadbury v. Bitterroot Public Library, 2012 WL 734163 (D. Montana March 6, 2012). Magistrate’s Findings and Recommendations from November 2011 (Spreadbury v. Bitterroot Public Library, 2011 WL 7462038 (D.Mont. November 30, 2011). The Justia page. It’s not…

Justin.tv Mostly Eliminates Zuffa’s Trademark and Communications Act Claims Over User-to-User Live Video Streaming

By Eric Goldman Zuffa LLC v. Justin.tv, Inc., 2012 WL 764424 (D. Nev. March 8, 2012). The complaint. [Note: I’ve worked with Justin.tv on related issues, but I’m speaking for myself in this post] Justin.tv allows user-to-user live video streaming….

StubHub Gets Section 230 Immunity from Anti-Scalping Laws Because Users Set Prices–Hill v. StubHub

By Eric Goldman Hill v. StubHub, Inc., 2012 WL 696223 (N.C. App. Ct. March 6, 2012). My blog post on the trial court ruling against StubHub in this case. Earlier blog post on the motion to dismiss ruling. This long-running…

Facebook, Google and Lexis-Nexis Get 47 USC 230 Immunity in a Bizarre Case Involving a Missing Sex Toy–Gaston v. Facebook

By Eric Goldman Magistrate ruling: Gaston v. Facebook, Inc., 2012 WL 629868 (D. Or. February 2, 2012) Judge’s approval of the magistrate’s ruling: Gaston v. Facebook, Inc., 2012 WL 610005 (D. Or. February 24, 2012) Kanal V. Gaston went on…

Employee Wins Harassment Claim Based in Part on Co-Workers’ Offsite Blog Posts–Espinoza v. Orange

By Eric Goldman Espinoza v. County of Orange, 2012 WL 420149 (Cal. App. Ct. February 9, 2012) Espinoza was born with an incomplete hand. In 1996, he started working for the county probations department. In 2006, a co-worker started two…