If You Dislike SOPA, You’ll Dislike This Case Too–True Religion v. Xiaokang Lei

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] True Religion v. Xiaokang Lei (S.D.N.Y.) (TRO; Nov. 18, 2011) (Prelim. Injunction; Dec. 2, 2011). The initial complaint. We recently blogged about a case where Chanel obtained surprisingly broad remedies against domain…

The OPEN Act: Significantly Flawed But More Salvageable Than SOPA/PROTECT-IP

By Eric Goldman Sen. Wyden and Rep. Issa have released a draft of OPEN: Online Protection & ENforcement of Digital Trade Act, intended as an alternative to SOPA/PROTECT-IP. See my prior posts opposing SOPA and linkwrapping the discussion. Unlike SOPA’s…

Employee’s Claims Against Employer for Unauthorized Use of Social Media Accounts Move Forward–Maremont v. SF Design Group

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Maremont v. Susan Fredman Design Group, Ltd., et al., 10 C 7811 (N.D. Ill.; Dec. 7, 2011) I blogged about a case earlier this year where a plaintiff sued her former employer for improperly accessing the…

I Don’t Heart SOPA or PROTECT-IP: A Linkwrap

By Eric Goldman Venkat and I have been covering SOPA and related topics. In case you missed our posts: * Why I Oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/E-PARASITES Act * Court OKs Private Seizure of Domain Names Which Allegedly…

Trademark Lawsuit Against Groupon Isn’t Going Well–Groupion v. Groupon

By Eric Goldman Groupion LLC v. Groupon, Inc., 2011 WL 5913992 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 28, 2011) Groupion provides CRM software as a service (SaaS). Groupon distributes “deal of the day” offers that are typically unprofitable for advertisers and often have…

Facebook’s Trademark Enforcement Effort Against “Faceporn” Hits Jurisdictional Snag — Facebook v. Pedersen

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Facebook, Inc. v. Pedersen, et al., 10-cv-04673 (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 29, 2011) Facebook sued Pedersen and Retro Invent, who are based in Norway and run the “Faceporn” site. “Faceporn” is a website which features pornographic content…

Court OKs Private Seizure of Domain Names Which Allegedly Sold Counterfeit Goods–Chanel, Inc. v. Does

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Chanel, Inc. v. Does, et al., 11-cv-01508-KJD-PAL (D. Nev.) (Sept. 26, 2011 Order) (Oct. 11, 2011 Order) (Nov. 14, 2011 Order) Luxury brand Chanel has engaged in a fierce campaign against counterfeit websites in federal court…

Court Awards Damages for Wrongful Disruption of Web Presence — Ordonez v. Icon Sky Holdings

[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Ordonez v. Icon Sky Holdings LLC, 10-cv-60156-PAS (S.D. Fla. Aug. 30, 2011) This was another dispute involving two parties who jockeyed for control of an online presence. I guess you could say that one “jacked” the…

Why I Oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/E-PARASITES Act

By Eric Goldman [Note: I’ve been working on this post for about 2 weeks, so my apologies if my comments are duplicative of the intervening discussion about the bill] The DMCA online safe harbors have worked pretty well over the…

Australian Court Says Google Isn’t Liable for Advertiser’s Misleading Ad–ACCC v. Trading Post (Guest Blog Post)

By Guest Blogger Mark Bender, with some comments by Eric Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Trading Post Australia Pty Ltd [2011] FCA 1086 (September 22, 2011, corrected October 10, 2011) [Eric’s introduction: Mark Bender is a business law lecturer…