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”)….

Book Review: Building Web Reputation Systems by Farmer & Glass

By Eric Goldman Building Web Reputation Systems by F. Randall Farmer & Bryce Glass (O’Reilly 2010) [affiliate link] As you may know, for the past couple of years, I have been researching how we regulate reputation systems. My most recent…

eBay Venue Selection Clause Upheld in Texas

By Eric Goldman In re eBay, Inc., 2010 WL 2695803 (Tex. App. Ct. July 8, 2010) In Comb v. PayPal, 218 F. Supp. 2d 1165 (N.D. Cal. 2002), PayPal defended a putative class action by invoking the arbitration clause in…