Minors’ Suit Over Facebook Credits Survives in Part – I.B. v. Facebook

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] I.B. v. Facebook, C 12 1894 CW (N.D. Cal. Oct. 25, 2012) Eric posted before about a Facebook sponsored stories lawsuit that was brought on behalf of minors. There, Facebook was confronted…

Useful Article on the First Sale Doctrine in Trademark Law (Guest Blog Post)

By Guest Blogger Yvette Joy Liebesman [Eric’s Note: We’ve repeatedly blogged on first sale/exhaustion principles on the blog, usually lamenting how easily circumscribed they are (see, e.g,. the posts about Mary Kay v. Weber and the Beltronics case) and the…

Court Says Plaintiff Lacks Standing to Pursue Failure-to-Purge Claim Under the VPPA – Sterk v. Best Buy

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Sterk v. Best Buy, 11 C 1894 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 17, 2012) The VPPA has spawned a lot of litigation over the past couple of years. One hot button area has been the applicability of the…

Lawsuit Over “Google Tags” Dismissed–Frezza v. Google

By Eric Goldman Frezza v. Google, 2012 WL 5877587 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 20, 2012) In Feb. 2010, Google introduced Google Tags, an advertising option in Google Places. Google Tags is now dead, but Google’s still dealing with the aftermath. To…

Online Data Broker Need not Comply With Licensing Requirements for Private Investigators – Brown v. Intelius

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment by Eric] Brown v. Intelius, 4:12cv00852 AGF (E.D. Miss. Nov. 21, 2012) Intelius brokers data about individuals. The information comes from a variety of sources, including public sources. Plaintiff paid a fee and…

Expert Report on the Value of Consumer Review Websites and 47 USC 230

By Eric Goldman [Eric’s note: most expert reports in litigation never see the light of day. Naturally, this collides with my blogger’s ethos of leaving no thought unpublished. As a result, after preparing this expert report regarding the social value…

Court Kicks Data Breach Claim Against Valve – Grigsby v. Valve

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Grigsby v. Valve Corp., No. C12-0553JLR (W.D. Wash. Nov. 14, 2012) Valve is facing a putative class action over a hacking incident involving a breach of Valve’s security system and access to the personal information of…

Court: Customer Consents to Receive Texts by Providing Phone Number to Pharmacy – Pinkard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Pinkard v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 12-cv-02902 (N.D. Ala. Nov. 9, 2012) Text messaging lawsuits are out of control.* That said, a district judge granted a motion to dismiss brought by Wal-Mart in a text spam case…

Email That Says “Done .. thanks!” Doesn’t Transfer Copyrights – MVP Entertainment v. Frost

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] MVP Entertainment, Inc. v. Frost, B235100 (Ca. Ct. App. Nov. 7, 2012) [pdf] We enjoy cases where people negotiate or modify contracts via email or other modern methods of communication. The underlying rules haven’t changed, and…

Data Breach Claim Survives Based on Allegation of Misuse of Personal Information — Burrows v. Purchasing Power

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Burrows v. Purchasing Power, LLC, 12-cv-22800-UU (S.D. Fla. Oct. 18, 2012) [pdf] This is another data breach lawsuit. Some of the claims survive defendants’ motion to dismiss. Purchasing Power runs a preferred purchasing (or discount purchasing)…