CAN-Spam-a-Friend?–Hoang v. Reunion.com
Hoang v. Reunion.com sidesteps an eagerly anticipated legal dispute over the legality of commercial address book scraping and ‘send-to-a-friend’ emails, and also highlights the damage that can cascade when a federal Circuit Court woefully misreads a statute. By Ethan Ackerman…
September 2008 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman eBay * Universal Grading Service v. eBay, Inc. More fallout from the National Numismatic v. eBay case–another lawsuit alleging antitrust and defamation because eBay designated some coin rating services as preferred and impliedly devalued others. * Windsor…
Email Ad Network Isn’t Liable for Unsolicited Email–Ferron v. Echostar
By Eric Goldman Ferron v. Echostar Satellite LLC, 2008 WL 4377309 (S.D. Ohio Sept. 24, 2008). The Justia page. John Ferron is one of several “repeat” plaintiffs around the country suing over unsolicited email (perhaps not coincidentally, he’s also an…
Delayed Enforcement Blocks Domain Name Lawsuit–Southern Grouts v. 3M
By Eric Goldman Southern Grouts & Mortars, Inc. v. 3M Co., 2008 WL 4346798 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 17, 2008) I’m often baffled by lawsuits over domain names and keywords because they just don’t seem to make any economic sense. This…
DMV.org Hit With SEO-Degrading Injunction–TrafficSchool.com v. eDriver
By Eric Goldman TrafficSchool.com, Inc. v. eDriver, Inc., 2008 WL 4000805 (C.D. Cal. June 4, 2008). Permanent injunction entered Aug. 28, 2008. [Note: I missed this case when it first came out. I recently learned about the case from Rebecca,…
August 2008 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Net Neutrality * The FCC gets on Comcast’s case for deceptively blocking BitTorrent connections without disclosure. While I don’t know anyone who has defended Comcast’s behavior here, at the same time there is an undercurrent of concern…
eBay Cracks Down on Cookie Stuffing–eBay v. Digital Point Solutions
By Eric Goldman eBay, Inc. v. Digital Point Solutions, No. 5:08-cv-04052-PVT (N.D. Cal. complaint filed Aug. 25, 2008) It is exceedingly rare for marketers to sue affiliates who are trying to game their affiliate programs. I’m sure there have been…
SEC Proposes that Companies Should Be Liable for Content Linked from the Company’s Website
By Eric Goldman [Note: I haven’t had a chance to blog the Veoh case–coming soon!] The Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) is proposing an interesting policy with respect to a securities issuer linking to discussions about it. See pages…
7Search Sues McAfee For Red Flagging It
By Eric Goldman 7Search.com v. McAfee, Inc., 1:2008cv04831 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed Aug. 25, 2008). The Justia page. I don’t have a good sense of how many lawsuits have been filed against anti-spyware vendors for classifying third party software as…
Competitive Pop-up Ads Aren’t Unfair Competition or Tortious Interference–Overstock v. SmartBargains
By Eric Goldman Overstock.com, Inc. v. SmartBargains, Inc., 2008 UT 55 (Utah Sup. Ct. Aug. 19, 2008) In light of the death of adware and the fact that almost all of us have moved on, it is jarring to see…