Terminating an NFL Player’s Endorsement Agreement for Polemic Tweets May Be Contract Breach–Mendenhall v. Hanes
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Mendenhall v. Hanesbrands, 2012 WL 1230743 (M.D.N.C.; Apr. 12, 2012) This case has it all: Twitter, a pro football player, terrorism, Osama bin Laden and contract law geekiness! Background: Rashard Mendenhall plays…
Lawsuit From Huffington Post Unpaid Contributors Gets the Boot – Tasini v. AOL
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Tasini v. AOL, Inc., 11-CV-2472 (JGK) (S.D.N.Y.; Mar. 30, 2012) I thought the Huffington Post lawsuit brought by unpaid contributors would present some interesting discussion about the arcane laws governing unpaid internships, but that’s not the…
Parents’ Lawsuit Against Apple for In-App Purchases by Minor Children Moves Forward — In re Apple In-App Purchase Litigation
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Apple In-App Purchase Litigation, 5:11-CV-1758 (N.D. Cal.; Mar. 31, 2012) Facebook recently dealt with a class action over sponsored stories where minors asserted violations of their publicity rights. The court enforced the Facebook terms…
Actress Suing IMDB Can Assert Claim Based on Privacy Policy – Hoang v. Amazon.com, Inc.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Hoang v. Amazon.com, Inc. & IMDB.com, Inc., C11-1709MJP (W.D. Wash.; Mar. 30, 2012) Hoang sued IMDB, alleging that IMDB took information she provided when she paid for her subscription and used this information to derive her…
Courts Struggling Needlessly With Online Contracting Practices (Guest Blog Post)
By John Ottaviani Fteja v. Facebook, Inc., No. 11 Civ 918(RJH), 2012 WL 183896 (S.D.N.Y. Jan 24, 2012) Jerez v. JD Closeouts, LLC, No. CV-024727-11, 2012 WL 934390 (N.Y. Civ. Ct. March 20, 2012) For over a decade, I have…
Users Can’t Sue Sony for Changing Online Terms to Require Arbitration – Fineman v. Sony Network Entertainment
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Fineman v. Sony Network Entertainment, C 11-05680 SI (N.D. Cal.; Feb. 9, 2012) In a move that caused a stir among consumer activists and others, Sony revised its EULA in September 2011 requiring PlayStation 3 users…
Qwest Gets Mixed Rulings on Contract Arbitration Issue—Grosvenor v. Qwest & Vernon v. Qwest
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] I recently blogged about Kwan v. Clearwire, which involved Clearwire’s efforts to force arbitration of a consumer dispute. The court in that case looked at Clearwire’s contracting practices and made an initial ruling that customers could…
No Breach of Contract Claim from Mid-Stream Change of WSJ Online Pricing – Lebowitz v. Dow Jones
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Lebowitz v. Dow Jones & Co., 06 Civ. 2198 (MGC) (S.D.N.Y.; Mar. 12, 2012) Dow Jones operates WSJ Online. Historically, it offered WSJ Online subscribers access to WSJ Online and Barron’s Online. At some point, Dow…
Facebook’s “Browsewrap” Enforced Against Kids–EKD v. Facebook
By Eric Goldman E.K.D. v. Facebook, Inc., 3:12-cv-01216-JCS (S.D. Ill. March 8, 2012). The complaint. This opinion reaches two interesting conclusions. First, it says children-users can’t disaffirm Facebook’s terms of service (TOS) so long as they keep using the site….
Facebook and Zynga Privacy Litigation Dismissed With Prejudice [Catch up Post]
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Facebook Privacy Litigation, 10-02389 (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 22, 2011) In re Zynga Privacy Litigation, 10-04680 (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 22, 2011) These decisions are several months old, but they remain worth mentioning despite the fact…