Court Rejects Argument That ECPA Does not Apply to Spousal Interception of Email--LaRocca v. LaRocca

Eloisa LaRocca alleged that her former husband installed spyware on her computer and intercepted emails she sent. The ex-husband moved for summary judgment on the basis that ECPA did not apply to spousal interceptions of electronic communications. The ex-husband also…

Congress Is Considering A New Federal Trade Secret Law. Why? (Forbes Cross-Post)

[Two brief introductory notes: (1) the trade secret bills have been dormant in Congress pending the November elections, but don’t rule out the possibility of them roaring back immediately thereafter, and (2) I have uploaded an expanded version of this…

When Does Online Criticism Become "Stalking"?--Ellis v. Chan

This is an online harassment dispute. Ellis, the plaintiff/petitioner, is the author of a poem called “The Dash”. She has achieved some degree of public figure status through the poem’s notoriety. The poem is about a person who speaks at…

Q3 2014 Quick Links, Part 2 (Content Regulation)

* United States v. Valle, 2014 WL 2980256 (S.D.N.Y. June 30, 2014). The highly unusual facts of this case reflect the Internet age in which we live. To prove the kidnapping conspiracy alleged in Count One, the Government relied on…

Call for Papers/Participation, 5th Annual Internet Law Work-in-Progress Conference, SCU, March 7, 2015

We invite your participation in the Fifth Annual Internet Law Work-in-Progress conference at Santa Clara University School of Law on March 7, 2015. The conference series is co-sponsored by the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University School of…

Shopkick Unable to Shake Text Spam Complaint -- Huricks v. Shopkick

Shopkick is a rewards-based app that shoppers use on their phone while they are in-store shopping. I’m not precisely sure how it works (you get points for trying on items or walking in certain parts of the store?) but it…

Q3 2014 Quick Links, Part 1 (RTBF, Reviews, IP & More)

Right to Be Forgotten * U.S. Attitudes Toward the ‘Right to Be Forgotten’: 1. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe some version of the right to be forgotten is necessary. 2. Thirty-nine percent want a European-style blanket right to be forgotten,…

Lawsuit Against Adware Vendor Fails--Halperin v. Text Enhance

Text Enhance, a program developed by Affluent Ads, scans web page text for certain keywords. When the user mouses over any of those keywords, the adware serves up a pop-up ad on the user’s computer. Halperin ended up with Text…

A Seismic Ruling On Pre-1972 Sound Recordings and State Copyright Law--Flo & Eddie v. Sirius XM Radio (Guest Blog Post)

By Tyler Ochoa [Eric’s intro: in Tyler’s cover email to me, he told me the ruling was “huge, as in 1906-San-Francisco-earthquake huge.  It literally could result in undoing 75 years of copyright history.”] A federal court in California has held…

Washington State Supreme Court Hears an Interesting Privacy Case: Dillon v. Seattle Deposition Reporters

This is a super interesting case that’s working its way through the courts in Washington. In a nutshell, T-Mobile was a defendant in a breach of contract lawsuit brought by NetLogix in the Western District of Washington. T-Mobile was represented…