Feb. 2008 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Advertising * BusinessWeek: Monetizing social networking sites isn’t as easy as everyone had hoped, clickthrough rates are through the floor (0.04%!), and ad proliferation on the sites is driving users away. * Wilbur, Kenneth C. and Zhu,…
Classic Article on “Cybermediaries”
By Eric Goldman Mitra B. Sarkar et al., Intermediaries and Cybermediaries: A Continuing Role for Mediating Players in the Electronic Marketplace, J. COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATIONS, 1995 I’ve been working on my Brand Spillovers paper, which in part addresses the trademark…
Oct.-Nov. 2007 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Marketing/Branding * To stimulate demand for its services, the British postal service is pointing out that snail mail is a good way to use olfactory marketing. Try to keep up with THAT, spammers! But doesn’t this give…
Internet Doctor Gets Extra Jail Time for Using Website–US v. Hanny
By Eric Goldman U.S. v. Hanny, 2007 WL 4322265 (8th Cir. Dec. 12, 2007) Given its blatant illegality, I’m a little surprised that we don’t hear more about busts of companies and individuals selling prescription drugs over the Internet. I…
Yale Reputation Economies Symposium Recap
By Eric Goldman Reputation is a hot topic in Cyberlaw circles, so the Yale ISP conference on Reputation Economies in Cyberspace came at a propitious time. Some of my meta-observations from the talks. 1) We lack a uniformly accepted definition…
eBay Sued for Failing to Take Down Listings–Hansson v. Brower
By Eric Goldman Hansson Inc. v. Brower, 4:07-cv-05898-CW (N.D. Cal. complaint filed Nov. 21, 2007) In my Cyberspace Law course, I teach students that they should not just consider the liability of the person who committed the allegedly tortious behavior,…
Taxonomies and Commercial Reputations
By Eric Goldman This coming Saturday, the Information Society Project at Yale Law School is sponsoring a very attractive event entitled “Reputation Economies in Cyberspace.” I’m especially excited about this event because I think my next big project will focus…
Geolocation and A Bordered Cyberspace
By Eric Goldman I recently gave a talk on the general theme of the future of e-commerce, and I was allowed to take the topic in any direction. I decided to talk a little about the propagation of geolocation technology…
Google Resists Subpoena for Keyword Ad Purchases–Connor Sport Court v. Google
By Eric Goldman Connor Sport Court International, Inc. v. Google Inc., CV-06-3066 PHX JAT // CV 07-80252 (N.D. Cal. motion to compel filed Oct. 31, 2007) This summer, I reported on trademark litigation between Connor Sport Court and Rhino Court….
Vendor of Illicit Phone Records Not Protected by 230–FTC v. Accusearch
By Eric Goldman Federal Trade Commission v. Accusearch, Inc., 06-CV-105-D (D. Wy. Sept. 28, 2007) Accusearch (a/k/a Abika) offers for sale records of telephone calls made by telephone subscribers. Abika doesn’t acquire the records itself directly from the phone companies;…