Yahoo “Syndication Fraud” Lawsuits–Crafts by Veronica v. Yahoo and Draucker Development v. Yahoo
By Eric Goldman Crafts by Veronica v. Yahoo, Inc., No. 2:06-cv-01985-JCL-MF (D. N.J. complaint filed May 1, 2006) Draucker Development v. Yahoo, Inc., No. CV06-2737 (C.D. Cal. complaint filed May 4, 2006) Two companion lawsuits against Yahoo for what the…
Winn on Adware Contracts
By Eric Goldman The Berkeley Technology Law Journal has published Jane K. Winn, Contracting Spyware by Contract, 20 Berkeley Tech. L.J. 1345 (2005), a follow-up to her presentation at the Boalt Spyware Conference in April 2005. Jane details the phenomenon…
AIT Click Fraud Lawsuit Stayed
By Eric Goldman Advanced Internet Technologies v. Google, 2006 WL 889477 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 5, 2006) AIT is the lead plaintiff who replaced Click Defense in a click fraud class action lawsuit. Last month, Google announced a tentative settlement of…
NY Enforcement Actions for Reselling Emails in Breach of Privacy Policy
By Eric Goldman Gratis Internet runs several websites that promise free stuff (like free iPods) in exchange for consumers signing up for subscription trials. The trials are initially free but then convert to paid subscriptions. The idea is that many…
Wasted Time as a Damage–Paglinawan v. Frey
By Eric Goldman Paglinawan v. Frey, No. 2:06-cv-00099-RSM (W.D. Wash. complaint filed Jan. 19, 2006). James Frey publishes the book “A Million Little Pieces.” It’s marketed as a non-fiction book, but some of it is actually fiction. Readers are upset…
When Does a Privacy Policy Breach Support a Breach of Contract Claim? In re JetBlue
By Eric Goldman In re JetBlue Airways Corp. Privacy Litigation, 79 F. Supp. 2d 299 (E.D.N.Y. August 1, 2005) I’m late blogging this case, but the case is remarkable enough to warrant some comments even at this late date. As…
Click Defense Lawsuit Update
By Eric Goldman Click Defense v. Google, No. 5:05-cv-02579-RMW (N.D. Cal.). The Click Defense lawsuit is one of three pending click fraud actions (the other two being the Lane’s Gifts and CLRB Hanson Industries LLC cases). After launching the lawsuit…
Microsoft Will Be an Adware Vendor
By Eric Goldman Microsoft is considering migrating some of its software titles to an ad-supported model instead of a consumer licensing fee model. This isn’t exactly a new idea–this development has been anticipated for at least a decade. However, if…
Reality TV Show Contracts
By Eric Goldman I’ve blogged about the Apprentice TV show before. See, e.g., this post about product placement on the Apprentice. At ContractsProf blog, where I’m doing some occasional blogging, I critique the Apprentice’s participant contract clause imposing a $5M…
Sony, DRM and Trespass to Chattels
By Eric Goldman A minor storm is brewing over Sony’s installation of DRM software on users’ computers when they play Sony’s CDs. Sony’s software is installed as a “rootkit,” a difficult-to-remove installation, and it supports Sony’s DRM, which really irritates…