[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Thomas v. Taco Bell Corp., SACV 09-01097-CJC(ANx) (C.D. Cal.; June 25, 2012) Thomas allegedly received unauthorized text messages as part of an advertising campaign for Taco Bell’s Nachos BellGrande (“[a] large platter…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Klumb v. Goan, 09-cv-115 (E.D. Tenn.; July 19, 2012) Klumb, described by the court as “a wealthy man,” met and married Crystal Goan, a law student who later became a lawyer. As the court describes it,…
By Eric Goldman David v. CBS Interactive Inc., CV 11-9437 DSF (C.D. Cal. July 13, 2012). The complaint. When the Grokster Supreme Court opinion came out in 2005, there was a lot of confusion about the relationship between copyright “inducement”…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Low v. LinkedIn, 11-CV-01468-LHK (N.D. Cal.; July 12, 2012) This case involves the fact that LinkedIn put users’ unique identifiers into its URLs, allowing advertisers (and others) to associate that unique identifier with users–and, potentially, access…
By Eric Goldman [Introductory note: every article has a backstory, but some backstories are more complicated than others. Earlier this year, I was commissioned by a well-known publication to participate in a point/counterpoint regarding registering domain names in new TLDs….
By Eric Goldman deVere Group GmbH v. Opinion Corp., 2012 WL 2884986 (E.D.N.Y. July 13, 2012) Here’s something you don’t see every day: a trademark infringement lawsuit defeated for lack of consumer confusion–on a 12b6 motion to dismiss. For several…
By Eric Goldman I’m thrilled to announce the public release of a new casebook, Advertising & Marketing Law: Cases and Materials by Rebecca Tushnet and me. We are publishing the book as a DRM-free PDF download at Scribd for only…
By Eric Goldman Hadley v. GateHouse Media Freeport Holdings, Inc., 2012 WL 2866463 (N.D.Ill. July 10, 2012) One of the safest bets in Section 230 jurisprudence is that a traditional media publisher won’t be liable for user comments to its…
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Holmes v. Countrywide Financial Corp., et al., 08-CV-00205-R (W.D. Ky.; July 12, 2012) In August 2008, a Countrywide employee engaged in a scheme to steal confidential customer information from Countrywide. An investigation found that the employee…
By Eric Goldman [Given how I feel about blogging on civil procedure topics, it’s ironic that my first substantive post to Tertium Quid is about Internet jurisdiction of all things. Still, this was an easy rehash of some recent blog…