Introductory note: today Santa Clara University hosted “Balancing Privacy and Opportunity in the Internet Age,” An Informational Hearing of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, the Assembly Business, Professions & Consumer Protection Committee, and the Assembly Select Committee on Privacy. My prior…

Facebook Complaints About Boss's Creepy Hands Can't Salvage Retaliation/Harassment Claims

DeBord worked for Mercy Health systems. Some five years into her tenure, she wrote several Facebook posts during work hours complaining about her boss, Weaver: [at 900am] Sara DeBord loves it when my boss adds an extra $600.00 on my…

How Doctors Should Respond To Negative Online Reviews (Forbes Cross-Post)

Most businesses have mixed emotions about online consumer reviews, but the doctor community has opposed consumer reviews of their services to an unusual degree.  Why?  Some possible explanations: Doctors are sensitive about their reputation.  Small business owners (including doctors) have…

Should TheDirty Website Be Liable For Encouraging Users To Gossip? (Forbes Cross-Post)

A major Internet Law battle is brewing in the Sixth Circuit federal appellate court in Kentucky. Potentially at stake is the future of the Web 2.0 ecosystem and user-generated content–which is why many of the Internet’s biggest and high-profile companies…

Ill-Advised Student YouTube Video Leads to Conviction For Misusing Computerized Communication System--In re Kaleb K.

Kaleb, a high school student, allegedly created a YouTube video with a rap song about his Spanish teacher that contained “crude and vulgar language” about the teacher. He was found guilty of disorderly conduct and unlawful use of a “computerized…

Keyword Advertising Lawsuits Against Search Engines Mostly Tossed--Parts[.]com v. Google and Yahoo

I know of only two pending trademark lawsuits against search engines for selling trademarked keywords: Parts.com and Carla Ison. Ison’s lawsuit has been dismissed and is on appeal, where it will be crushed. This week, Parts.com’s lawsuits against Google and…

Ninth Circuit Kills Contributory ACPA Cybersquatting Doctrine--Petronas v. GoDaddy

A domain name registrant transferred the petronastower.net and petronastowers.net domain names into GoDaddy and used GoDaddy’s name forwarding service to direct them to (NSFW) canfunchat.com. Petronas asked GoDaddy to turn over the domain names to Petronas. GoDaddy declined. Petronas sued,…

California Assembly Hearing, "Balancing Privacy and Opportunity in the Internet Age," SCU, Dec. 12

Santa Clara University is hosting a joint hearing of the California State Assembly’s Judiciary Committee, Business, Professions And Consumer Protection Committee, and Select Committee On Privacy on December 12, 2013, 9 am to 1 pm. The hearing is entitled “Balancing…

Google Gets Dismissal of Lawsuit Over Privacy Policy Integration--In re Google Privacy Policy

This is another potentially important but head-scratching Northern District of California ruling in an Internet privacy lawsuit. This lawsuit involves Google’s integration of its various product-specific databases of user information into one giant across-Google Database of Ruin. It was inevitable…

Why Google's Fair Use Victory In Google Books Suit Is A Big Deal--And Why It Isn't (Forbes Cross-Post)

Last month, federal judge Denny Chin rejected a copyright challenge Google’s practices of scanning books into digital format and presenting snippets of those scans in search results because the practices qualify as fair use. It’s an exciting and hard-fought victory…