Using Scraper to Harvest Records Isn't Fraudulent Access Under CFAA--Fidlar v. LPS

Fidlar works with counties to digitize and index land records. It also makes available a software client (Laredo) that allows end users to access these records. Billing is handled by the counties, and counties have monthly access plans. The counties…

Posting Vacation Photos To Facebook Costs An Employee His Job--Jones v. Accentia (Forbes Cross-Post)

[Note: inexplicably, over at Forbes, this became my most-read blog post ever, with about a quarter-million views–even though it’s a short, breezy and quickly written post that I posted during the dead time of Sunday mid-morning.] Before the Internet, people…

Telephony Provider Didn't Properly Form a "Telephone-Wrap" Contract--James v. Global Tel*Link

Plaintiffs filed a putative class over fees paid for calls made by inmates in New Jersey correctional institutions. At issue is whether they should be required to arbitrate their claims. Defendant, GTL, has the exclusive right to provide phone services…

Court Beats Down Another Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuit--Beast Sports v. BPI

If you’ve been keeping up with the blog over the past several years, you already know that competitive keyword advertising lawsuits consistently lose in court. So in that sense, today’s blog post isn’t telling you anything new. Yet, it’s still…

Courtney Love Defeats Twibel Claims--Holmes v. Love

Courtney Love Cobain, tweeting with two twitter users (“fairnewsspears” and “noozjunkie”), stated she: was fucking devasted when Rhonda J. Holmes, Esquire, of San Diego was bought off @FairNewsSpears perhaps you can get a quote Holmes was a lawyer who had…

Section 230 Doesn't Protect Summaries of Third Party Remarks--Diamond Ranch Academy v. Filer

Diamond Ranch Academy runs a “residential youth treatment facility” in Utah. Chelsea Filer (nee Chelsea Papciak) runs a website, DRASurvivors.com, critical of Diamond Ranch Academy. Diamond Ranch Academy sued her for defamation and tortious interference in Utah. For reasons not…

Court Orders Uber To Control Its Google Search Results

What happens when national trademarks, used on the borderless Internet, conflict with regional trademarks? This is one of the most venerable topics in Internet Law; see, e.g., the Blue Note case from 20 years ago. More recently, Jake blogged about…

High Schooler's "Murder" Tweet Isn't "Cyberstalking"--State v. Kohonen

Ruh roh. Teens and Twitter. What could possibly go wrong? In 8th grade, SG reported Jessica Kohonen’s behavior, which led to her suspension. [Note: the court uses the alias JK in the opinion but the caption has Jessica’s full name….

Surveying Ten Years Of Top Internet Law Developments (Forbes Cross-Post)

I’ve been writing an annual list of top Internet Law developments for a decade, so I thought it might be fun to look back at my #1 ranked development in each of the past 10 years. Let’s take a stroll…

Hacky Sacker's Publicity Rights Claim Against Energy Drink Tossed--Martin v. 5-Hour Energy Drink

Johannes (Ted) Martin was (and is currently) the world record holder for “most consecutive kicks (no knees)” of a hackysack. A five hour energy drink made an advertisement depicting an unknown actor claiming he performed several superhuman tasks, including breaking…