Comments on Doe v. IMDB Privacy Lawsuit
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Doe v. Amazon.com, Inc. and IMDB.com, Inc., 11-cv-1709 (W.D. Wash.; Oct. 13, 2011) An actress who goes by a stage name sued IMDB and Amazon for disclosing her birthdate, which IMDB allegedly obtained through the payment…
Court Disregards Check-the-Box Agreement and Doesn’t Enforce Venue Clause — Dunstan v. comScore
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with additional comments from Eric] Dunstan v. comScore, Inc., 11-cv-05807 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 7, 2011) Plaintiffs sued comScore, alleging that comScore improperly obtained and misused plaintiff’s personal information, after plaintiffs downloaded and used comScore’s software. comScore…
Q3 2011 Quick Links, Part 4
By Eric Goldman Content Regulation * Lawmakers are putting the squeeze on advertisers to be content police. Meanwhile, VeriSign begged for the right to act as content police before changing its mind. * Kowalski v. Koster, 2011 WL 4349365 (W.D….
Q3 2011 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman Advertising Search Marketing * Search Engine Land: “In many cases, it is worth buying keywords even if you rank organically for them.” Similarly, a Google study indicates that PPC advertising lifts clicks on organic results. Prior blog…
Massachusetts Court Dismisses Lawsuit Alleging Failure to Adequately Safeguard Personal Information — Katz v. Pershing
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Katz v. Pershing, LLC, 10-12227-RGS (D. Mass. Aug 23, 2011) Background: Katz maintained an account at National Planning Corporation, an “introducing firm” for which Pershing provides brokerage clearing services. Pershing’s services are provided on a proprietary…
Court Nukes Another Mass Defendant File-Sharing Lawsuit — Digiprotect v. Does
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] DigiProtect USA v. Does, 10 Civ. 8760 (S.D.N.Y.; Sept. 26, 2011) Plenty of bad news for copyright plaintiffs lately. Righthaven is getting hammered left and right and is struggling (to say the least) to keep any…
Ca. Court of Appeal Vacates $100,000 Non-Party Discovery Sanction Against Facebook — In re J.G.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re J.G., A128898; A129157 (Ca Ct. App.; Sept. 30, 2011) Background: This involved a juvenile proceeding where J.G., a minor, was charged with the offenses of forcible sexual penetration and false imprisonment. During the proceedings,…
9th Cir.: ECPA Protects Non-Citizen Communications Stored in the US — Suzlon Energy v. Microsoft
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Suzlon Energy Ltd. v. Microsoft Corp., 10-35793 (9th Cir. Oct. 3, 2011) [pdf] Suzlon Energy sought emails from Microsoft for use against Sridhar, an Indian citizen, in a civil lawsuit pending in Australia. It filed a…
iPhone Privacy Class Action Dismissed for Lack of Standing — In re iPhone App. Litigation
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] In re iPhone Application Litigation, 2011 WL 4403963 (N.D. Cal.; Sept. 20, 2011) iPhone users sued Apple and various advertising networks alleging that defendants violated their privacy rights “by . . . allowing third party applications…
Court Revisits and Dismisses Fair Credit Reporting Act Lawsuit Against Spokeo — Robins v. Spokeo, Inc.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Robins v. Spokeo, Inc., 10-CV-05306 (C.D. Cal.; Sept. 19, 2011) Spokeo collects information about individuals and allegedly markets this information to employers and HR professionals. Robins sued Spokeo in a putative class action, alleging violations of…