Effort to Game Website User Agreement Rules Fails -– Traton News v. Traton Corp.

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Traton News v. Traton Corp., 2013 WL 2500601 (6th Cir. June 11, 2013) Moses was involved in a dispute against Traton Corp., a home builder. Moses sued for trespass and lost. Later, he formed “Traton News…

Multiple Listing Service Gets Favorable Appellate Ruling in Scraping Lawsuit

By Jake McGowan, with comments from Eric & Venkat Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc. v. American Home Realty Network, Inc., 2013 WL 3722365 (4th Cir. July 17, 2013) This is a follow-up to our massive post on anti-scraping lawsuits in the…

JDate Member Agreement Upheld–Zaltz v. JDate (Forbes Cross-Post)

By Eric Goldman Lisa Zaltz v. JDate, 2013 WL 3369073 (E.D.N.Y. July 8, 2013). Lisa Zaltz is a former member of JDate (a property of Spark Networks).  She is unhappy with JDate for a laundry list of reasons (I had a…

Warranty Disclaimer in PC TuneUp’s EULA Fails — Rottner v. AVG

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] Rottner v. AVG Technologies, 12-10920-RGS (D. Mass May 3, 2013) [pdf] Rottner sued AVG Technologies on behalf of a putative class, alleging that AVG’s “PC TuneUp” product did not perform as advertised….

Craigslist’s Anti-Consumer Lawsuit Threatens to Break Internet Law–Craigslist v. 3Taps/Padmapper (Forbes Cross-Post)

By Eric Goldman Craigslist, Inc. v. 3Taps, Inc., 2013 WL 1819999 (N.D. Cal. April 30, 2013) Craigslist is one of the best examples of the Internet’s sharing economy.  Craigslist improves markets by helping buyers and sellers find each other.  Remarkably, it…

Yahoo’s User Agreement Fails in Battle Over Dead User’s Email Account–Ajemian v. Yahoo

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Ajemian v. Yahoo!, 12-P-178 (Mass. Ct. App. May 7, 2013) This is a very interesting dispute that raises the question of ownership over digital assets after a person’s death. Plaintiffs, John Ajemian’s (the decedent’s) executors and…

First Sale Doctrine Doesn’t Allow Resale of Digital Songs – Capitol Records v. ReDigi

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Capitol Records, LLC v. ReDigi Inc., 2013 WL 1286134 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 30, 2013) [There has been a recent whirlwind of copyright activity in the courts. We will try to get caught up…

Online Trespass to Chattels Needs Structural Reform (Forbes Cross-Post)

By Eric Goldman In light of Aaron Swartz’s tragic suicide, there has been a lot of discussion–some productive, some not–about reforming the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (the “CFAA”).  I support some of the reform proposals, but they don’t go…

The Supreme Court’s Kirtsaeng Ruling Is Good News for Consumers, but the First Sale Doctrine Is Still Doomed–Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley (Forbes Cross-Post)

By Eric Goldman Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, No. 11–697 (U.S. Supreme Court March 19, 2013).  Prior blog post of the Second Circuit ruling in the case. In Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons ($JW-A), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled…

Facebook Posts and Twitter Invites Don’t Violate Non-Solicitation Clause — Pre-Paid Legal v. Cahill

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment from Eric] Pre-Paid Legal Services v. Cahill, Civ-12-346-JHP (E.D. Ok. Jan. 22, 2013) Cahill was an associate of Pre-Paid Legal Services, described by the court as a multi-level marketing company. Cahill joined and…