Class Action for Misleading Pop-up Ads Against McAfee Survives Motion to Dismiss — Ferrington v. McAfee

[Post by Venkat] Ferrington v. McAfee, Case No. 10-cv-01455-LHK (N.D. Cal. Oct. 5, 2010) There have been a few rulings involving class actions from customers alleging that an online merchant partnered with a third party who improperly piggybacked on to…

Washington Anti-Online Gambling Law Survives Dormant Commerce Clause Challenge — Rousso v. State

[Post by Venkat, with brief comments from Eric] Rousso v. Washington, Case No. 8040-1 (Wash. S.Ct. Sept. 23, 2010) Professor Goldman blogged recently about a case from the Washington state Supreme Court interpreting the state’s online gambling laws: “P2P Gambling…

Fifth Circuit Blesses Vistaprint’s Rewards Program Sign-Up Process — Bott v. Vistaprint USA Inc.

[Post by Venkat] Bott v. Vistaprint USA Inc., No. 09-20648 (5th Cir.; Aug. 23, 2010). I recently blogged about an online rewards program class action which survived a motion to dismiss. (In re: Easysaver Rewards Litigation: “Internet Rewards Program Class…

Online Ticket Resellers Get Significant 47 USC 230 Win–Milgram v. Orbitz

By Eric Goldman Milgram v. Orbitz Worldwide, LLC, ESX-C-142-09 (N.J. Super. Ct. Aug. 26, 2010) Introduction It’s been a relatively quiet year for 47 USC 230, in a good way. We’ve had a few minor aberrational rulings (Subway v. Quiznos,…

P2P Gambling Site is Illegal Bookmaker–Betcha v. Washington

By Eric Goldman Internet Community & Entertainment Corp. v. Washington State Gambling Commission, 82845-8 (Wash. Sup. Ct. Sept. 2, 2010) Betcha is one of those too-clever-by-half dot com ideas that practically beg VCs to roll the dice. Rather than allow…

Internet Rewards Program Class Action Survives Initial Motion to Dismiss — In re Easysaver Rewards

[Post by Venkat] In re: Easysaver Rewards Litigation (S.D. Cal.) (Aug. 13, 2010) Plaintiffs brought a class action lawsuit against Provide-Commerce (which operated Pro.Flowers.com). The lawsuit alleged that effecting transactions on the Proflowers website resulted in plaintiffs being unwittingly enrolled…

The Problems With Google House Ads

By Eric Goldman [Note: This blog post has taken me 7 months to write, so I’m glad to be sharing it finally. I am cross-posting it to Search Engine Land.] Introduction Many publishers run “house ads” to self-promote their own…

“Electronically Printed” Does not Include Automated Merchant Email — Shlahtichman v. 1-800 Contacts

[Post by Venkat] Shlahtichman v. 1-800 Contacts, Inc., Case No. 09-4073 (7th Cir.; Aug. 10, 2010) The Seventh Circuit recently concluded that the words “electronically printed,” as used in the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003, does not…

July 2010 Quick Links, Part 1 (IP Edition)

By Eric Goldman Trademarks * Rebelution, LLC v. Perez, 2010 WL 3036217 (N.D. Cal. July 30, 2010). The plaintiff is a band named Rebelution. The defendant is a music performer named Pitbull who released an album “Pitbull Starring in Rebelution”…

E-SIGN Prevents Enforcement of Emailed Contract Terms–Buckles v. Investordigs

By John Ottaviani Buckles Management, LLC v. Investordigs, LLC, No. 10-cv-00508-LTB-BNB (D. Colo. July 23, 2010). It has been about 10 years now since Congress adopted the federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (commonly known as “E-Sign”)….