Bank Might Bear Loss for Fraudulent Money Transfers Initiated From Its Website–Patco v Ocean Bank (Catch-Up Post)
By Blogging Assistant Jake McGowan (with Venkat’s supervision), with a comment from Eric Patco v. Ocean Bank, 11-2031 (1st Cir. July 3, 2012) When a scammer siphons money from a customer’s online bank account, should the bank or the customer…
Court Declines to Dismiss Video Privacy Protection Act Claims against Hulu
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Hulu Privacy Litigation, C 11-03764 LB (N.D. Cal.; Aug. 10, 2012) Hulu is facing a putative class action alleging that Hulu improperly disclosed the video viewing choices of its users without obtaining consent. Hulu…
Breastfeeding Mom Can Sue Video Producer Despite Signing a Blanket Release–Sahoury v. Meredith
By Eric Goldman Sahoury v. Meredith Corp., 2:11-cv-05180-KSH-PS (D. N.J. Aug. 2, 2012) Sahoury consented to being video-recorded while breastfeeding for inclusion in an instructional video. She claims that the video producers orally agreed to two conditions: (1) the instructional…
Online Marketplace Isn’t Liable for Bad Conduct by Merchants It Certifies–Englert v. Alibaba
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Englert v. Alibaba, 11CV1560 RWS (E.D. Miss.; Apr. 27, 2012) Englert and other plaintiffs purchased products found on alibaba.com. The products included “ExtenZe male enhancement, Vimax,VigRX Plus, Energy Wristband (Power Balance), and Razor Blades Fusion Power.”…
Judge Koh Puts the Kibosh on LinkedIn Referral ID Class Action — Low v. LinkedIn
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Low v. LinkedIn, 11-CV-01468-LHK (N.D. Cal.; July 12, 2012) This case involves the fact that LinkedIn put users’ unique identifiers into its URLs, allowing advertisers (and others) to associate that unique identifier with users–and, potentially, access…
Photographer’s Suit Against Client for Republishing Photos on Facebook Proceeds – Davis v. Tampa Bay Arena
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] Davis v. Tampa Bay Arena, Ltd., 2012 WL 2116136 (M.D. Fla.; June 11, 2012) This seems like a run-of-the-mill dispute between a photographer and client, but I think it contains some helpful…
Court Refuses to Dismiss Claims Against Alleged Twitter-Bot Spammer–Twitter v. Skootle
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Twitter, Inc. v. Skootle Corp., et al., 2012 WL 2375486 (N.D. Cal.; June 22, 2012) Twitter sued several alleged spammers, including (1) those who provided software for the use of automated account creation and tweeting, and…
University of Alabama Can’t Stop Paintings of Famous Crimson Tide Football Moments–University of Alabama v. New Life Art
By guest blogger Deborah Gerhardt [Eric’s introduction: Deborah Gerhardt is a law professor at University of North Carolina. She is part of the 3G team (including myself and Leah Chan Grinvald) working on the trademark policing article I mentioned last…
First Circuit Rejects Data Insecurity Claims on the Basis of Article III Standing–Katz v Pershing
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Katz v. Pershing, 11-1983 (1st Cir.; Feb. 28, 2012) [This is an old catch up post that fell by the wayside.] Pershing provides services to brokerage firms, and it makes available a platform (NetExchange Pro) for…
The Dangerous Meme That Won’t Go Away: Using Copyright Assignments to Suppress Unwanted Content–Scott v. WorldStarHipHop
By Eric Goldman Scott v. WorldStarHipHop, Inc., 2012 WL 1592229 (S.D.N.Y. May 3, 2012) Copyright law wasn’t designed as a privacy enhancing doctrine, but sometimes plaintiffs try to repurpose copyright law anyway. This case is an interesting illustration of how…