Thoughts on the Lawsuit Over the @OMGFacts Twitter Account — Deck v. Spartz, Inc.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Deck v. Spartz, Inc., 2:11-cv-01123-JAM-DAD (E.D. Ca.; Apr. 26, 2011) (Complaint) (Agreement) An Associated Press story reports on the lawsuit over the @OMGFacts Twitter account. (Here’s a link to the story with comments from Professor Goldman.)…
Facebook Scores Initial Win Against Privacy Plaintiffs Over Data Leakage Claims — In re Facebook Privacy Litigation
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re Facebook Privacy Litigation, 2011 WL 2039995 (N.D. Cal.; May 12, 2011) There are so many recent privacy class actions out there, it’s become tough to keep track of them all. One of the early…
Twitpic Modifies Terms and Claims Exclusive Rights to Distribute Photos Uploaded to Twitpic
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] I posted about the dispute between a photographer and Agence France-Presse over images AFP allegedly downloaded via Twitpic and used without permission. AFP argued that the license terms of Twitter or Twitpic authorized its use of…
Acknowledging Receipt of an Email Doesn’t Form a Contract–Stebbins v. Wal-Mart
By Eric Goldman Stebbins v. Wal-Mart Stores Arkansas, LLC, 2011 WL 1519390 (W.D. Ark. April 14, 2011). Lawsuits like these tend to be associated with repeat users of the judicial process; see the Justia Arkansas page for other lawsuits possibly…
Google Wins Lawsuit Over Unhappy Google Search Appliance Installation–Market America v. Google
By Eric Goldman Market America, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 2011 WL 1485616 (D. Del. April 19, 2011) I blogged about this case last year. Market America retained Google and its system integrator LTech to install a Google Search Appliance to…
Bulk Emailers (Mostly) Lose Three 47 USC 230(c)(2) Rulings–Holomaxx v. Microsoft/Yahoo & Smith v. TRUSTe
By Eric Goldman I’ve been so behind that it’s taken me until now to blog these cases from last month. All three opinions involve the same basic fact pattern: a bulk emailer gets blocked by an email service provider (relying…
Judge Recognizes Loss of Value to PII as Basis of Standing for Data Breach Plaintiff — Claridge v. RockYou
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Claridge v. RockYou, 2011 WL 1361588 (N.D. Cal.; Apr. 11, 2011) RockYou is a developer and publisher of applications for use with Facebook, MySpace, hi5, and Bebo. RockYou’s applications allow users to…
Court Rules That Instant Message Conversation Modified the Terms of a Written Contract — CX Digital v. Smoking Everywhere
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a few comments from Eric] CX Digital Media, Inc. v. Smoking Everywhere, Inc., 09-62020-CIV-Altonga (S.D. Fl.; Mar. 23, 2011) As contract cases go, this one is interesting. It’s more than interesting, it’s awesome! The court…
Another Advertiser Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Google–Woods v. Google
By Eric Goldman Woods v. Google Inc., 5:11-cv-01263-HRL (N.D. Cal. complaint filed March 15, 2011) Since Google settled its click fraud lawsuits in 2006 and the CLRB Hanson case in 2009, it’s been a little quiet on the advertiser-vs.-Google class…
Intelius May be Liable for Deceptive Online Marketing Practices Based on Third Party Transaction at Checkout — Keithly v. Intelius
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Keithly v. Intelius, No. C09-1485RSL (W.D. Wash.; Feb. 08, 2011) A district court judge in Washington held that Intelius could potentially be held liable for allegedly deceptive marketing practices based on its making available third party…