Another Tough Section 230 Ruling For Ripoff Report–Vision Security v. Xcentric
Maybe Ripoff Report’s luck in court is finally running out. I recently blogged on a bizarre case in Iowa where the court held that Ripoff Report couldn’t claim Section 230 protection for contributions made by a guy named Meade. I…
Backpage Gets Bummer Section 230 Ruling in Washington Supreme Court–J.S. v. Village Voice
I have conflicting feelings about the legal efforts to eliminate online prostitution advertising. I’m aware of the critical role that online advertising can play in human sex trafficking and other associated crimes. However, it’s less clear to me whether shutting…
Travel Blogger Denied Tax Writeoff For European Backpacking Trip (Forbes Cross-Post)
It sounds like every blogger’s dream: take a half-year vacation to travel the globe–and make the trip tax-deductible by blogging it! Unfortunately, you can’t cheat the tax man so easily, as one enterprising blogger discovered the hard way. The Case…
Recent FCC Order Helps Shopkick Defeat TCPA Claims
This is a TCPA lawsuit against Shopkick, a rewards-based app that lets shoppers accumulate and use in-store rewards. Plaintiff brought a putative class action, alleging that Shopkick caused invites to be sent to users’ contacts. Shopkick previously filed a motion…
Hashtags Are Not Trademarks—Eksouzian v. Albanese (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Alexandra Roberts [Eric’s note: Prof. Roberts is a trademark expert at the University of New Hampshire School of Law. She’s writing a paper on hashtags as trademarks, a new topic of growing importance. When I saw this…
Two Tough Section 230 Rulings From Last Week–General Steel v. Chumley & Xcentric v. Smith
Last week, we saw two Section 230 losses. Initially I was troubled by this confluence, but after digesting these opinions, I’m pretty certain they both involve unusual facts that limit any real damage to Section 230’s immunity. However, as usual…
Keyword Ad Lawsuit Isn’t Covered By California’s Anti-SLAPP Law
The plaintiff, Los Angeles Yellow Cab, and defendants compete in the taxi industry. The defendants bought keyword ads at the search engines, such as the following triggered by the search “Yellow Cab Los Angeles”: Yellow Cab Los Angeles—Call 800–521–8294 or…
Angie’s List Must Defend Fraud Charges Over Pay-to-Play Review Manipulation (Forbes Cross-Post)
U.S. law is clear that consumer review websites aren’t liable for their users’ reviews. However, plaintiffs are increasingly challenging how review websites publicly describe their review databases. A recent court ruling against Angie’s List highlights how plaintiffs are tendentiously parsing…
Trade School’s Domain Name Lawsuit Drops Like a (Granite) Rock
I don’t often blog cases where New Hampshire figures so prominently, so this is a shoutout to all of my New Hampshirian/New Hampshirite friends! The litigants are competitor schools that train tradespeople such as plumbers and gas fitters. Granite State…
What’s Worse Than Cleaning Up A Meth Lab? A Trademark Injunction Against Using “Meth Lab Cleanup” In Metatags
Opinions like this make me really crank-y. The litigants compete in the meth lab cleanup business. The plaintiff has registered trademarks for “Meth Lab Cleanup LLC.” Right away, we already know that weaponizing highly descriptive terms like that can cause…