By Eric Goldman Braverman v. Yelp, Inc., 2013 NY Slip Op 31407 (NY Sup. Ct June 28, 2013) Mal Braverman is a Manhattan dentist. He sued Yelp for defamation based on two allegedly defamatory user posts. I’m not sure which…
By Eric Goldman Ira Arnstein is well-known to most IP professors as the named plaintiff in the copyright classic Arnstein v. Porter from 1946 (also see this case archive). The Second Circuit’s opinion is a landmark ruling that appears in…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] West Virginia Department of Transportation v. Litten, 2013 WL 2662712 (W. Va. Ct. App. June 5, 2013) [pdf] Litten worked as a mechanic for the West Virginia Dept of Highway. He was fired for accessing porn…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment by Eric; followed by a massive supplement from Eric] [Eric’s intro: sometimes, a draft blog post misses the publication window and then comes out painfully late. Venkat drafted the first draft of this…
By Eric Goldman The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) hates inauthentic online content. To combat this perceived ill, the FTC has been waging a multi-year battle against surreptitious ads online. The FTC has been quite clear about what it wants online…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] I recently blogged about a trio of cases involving attempts to unseat jury verdicts based on social media relationships between the jurors and witnesses or parties. (“No New Trials When Jurors Haven’t Adequately Disclosed Facebook Friendships.”)…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Rosario v. Clark County School Dist., 13-cV-362 JCM (PAL) (D. Nev. July 3, 2013) Rosario was a student at Desert Oasis High School. He tried out and was originally cut from the basketball team, but apparently…
By Eric Goldman How do you celebrate the Fourth of July? I spent the holiday thinking about how 47 USC 230 enhances my freedoms. However, I’ve been feeling a little guilty because I try to blog every Section 230 case…
By Eric Goldman You’ve probably already heard that at the Summer 2013 NAAG meeting in Boston, some State Attorneys General indicated they will ask Congress to exclude state criminal prosecutions from the 47 USC 230 immunity. Although many folks believe…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Malibu Media v. Does, 12-2078 (E.D. Pa. June 18, 2013) [pdf] In a somewhat bizarre ruling, a district judge in Pennsylvania held, following a “bellwether trial” that Malibu Media was not a “copyright toll.” In a…