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…

School District Wrongly Disciplined Student for a Two Word Tweet

Plaintiff was an honor student and athlete at Rogers High School, with no previous disciplinary record. In response to a tweet from an anonymous Twitter account (Roger Confessions) asking whether “[plaintiff] actually made out with [name of female teacher at…

Second Circuit Enforces Terms Hyperlinked In Confirmation Email--Starkey v. G Adventures

Plaintiff Starkey booked a trip online through G Adventures. She alleges a G Adventures employee assaulted her during the trip. She sued G Adventures in the Southern District of New York. That court dismissed her lawsuit based on a forum…

Court Allows Facebook Expert to Testify in Threat Case--U.S. v. Bradbury

I previously blogged about US v. Bradbury, a prosecution for Facebooking allegedly jocular threats to blow up buildings and kill government officials. (See: “When Can Defendants Defeat A Criminal Threat Prosecution By Claiming They Were Joking? Not Often”.) Bradbury was…

Delayed Search Database Updating Isn't Defamation--Ferrell v. Yahoo and Google

This lawsuit is another unsuccessful attempt to manufacture an American “right to be forgotten.” Keyonna Ferrell sued Google and Yahoo pro se because allegedly she removed images from Pinterest but the search engines didn’t update their search results to reflect…

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…

University Can’t Quash Lawsuit by Professor Fired for Tweeting Political Opinion

Dr. Steven Salaita, a tenured professor at Virginia Tech, took a job at University of Illinois. After going through the interview process, UI sent him an offer letter for him to accept and sign. As is typically the case, the…

Story Byline May Affect Section 230 Immunity--AdvanFort v. Maritime Executive

I previously blogged this case in May. The underlying facts involve the arrest and ultimate release of a ship’s crew that was armed to combat piracy. I’ll focus just on the Section 230 issue. A person involved in the underlying…

Federal Trade Secret Bill Re-Introduced--And It's Still Troublesome (Guest Blog Post)

You may recall my prior coverage of Congress’ efforts to enact a new federal trade secret cause of action. The Defend Trade Secret Act has been reintroduced to Congress and it deserves your attention. If enacted, it would be among the most…