By Eric Goldman National Football Scouting, Inc. v. Rang, 11-cv-5762-RBL (W.D. Wash. Dec. 13, 2012) Individual numbers aren’t copyrightable, no matter how much work or judgment went into producing them. This proposition seems so obvious, I feel silly even mentioning…
By Eric Goldman There has been a lot of angst about software patents, and I’ve already posted about some of the problems software patents create and some of the challenges trying to fix those problems. Unfortunately, the rhetoric about software…
By Eric Goldman Software patents play a huge–and controversial–role in our economy. In a recent post, I explained some of the unique problems that software innovations pose to the patent system. This post extends that discussion by exploring two structural…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] I.B. v. Facebook, C 12 1894 CW (N.D. Cal. Oct. 25, 2012) Eric posted before about a Facebook sponsored stories lawsuit that was brought on behalf of minors. There, Facebook was confronted…
By Jake McGowan Profile Technology, Ltd. v. Facebook, Inc. (Complaint) Web developers sometimes try to enhance the functionality of an already-popular social network. But this typically requires permission to access the social network’s information, which is not always easy to…
By Eric Goldman LeBlanc v. Skinner, 2012 WL 6176900 (N.Y.A.D. Dec. 12, 2012) I’ve never heard of Wawayanda, New York before now, but I won’t quickly forget it. The court succinctly summarizes the underlying incident: [Town Board member] Soro discovered…
By Eric Goldman Every anti-SLAPP law is worded differently, but some statutes protect statements on “matters of public interest,” “issues of public concern” or something similar. This language usually doesn’t explicitly reference consumer reviews of marketplace offerings, but my position…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] We don’t track the numerous mass file sharing cases going on around the country. There are too many of them, and it’s not easy to glean any sort of a clear trend. But here are a…
By Eric Goldman Sambreel Holdings LLC v. Facebook, Inc., 2012 WL 5995240 (S.D. Cal. Nov. 29, 2012) As successful Internet companies evolve from shoestring start-ups into marketplace incumbents, inevitably their reward will include antitrust challenges to their conduct. The flagship example…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] New Hampshire v. White, 2012 WL 6062701 (N.H., Dec. 7, 2012) New Hampshire requires registered sex offenders to notify law enforcement when they create new “online identifiers.” The defendant, a registered sex…