By Eric Goldman Certain Approval Program v. Xcentric Certain Approval Programs, L.L.C. v. XCentric Ventures L.L.C., 2009 WL 596582 (D. Ariz. March 9, 2009). I previously blogged about this case in November. This ruling is in response to the plaintiff’s…

By Eric Goldman [I initially wrote this as an editorial for our University magazine and republished that version through InformIT as well. Here’s the original unedited version I submitted.] From the beginning, the Internet has been viewed as something special…

By Eric Goldman Please come to a Conference on the 100th Anniversary of the 1909 Copyright Act, April 30, at Santa Clara University. The event is co-sponsored by the High Tech Law Institute, Santa Clara University School of Law and…

By Eric Goldman The Utah legislature is continuing its embarrassing third attempt to regulate keyword advertising. Today, after making a ticky-tack amendment, the Utah House passed HB 450 and sent the bill to the Senate. However, the House was sharply…

By Eric Goldman Dart v. Craigslist, Inc., 09-CV-1385 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed March 5, 2009) Dart, the Cook County, Illinois sheriff, has sued Craigslist in federal court for creating a “public nuisance” because its “Erotic Services” category facilitates prostitution. Unfortunately…

By Eric Goldman When I first heard that the Utah legislature is considering yet another law to regulate keyword advertising, I thought: Are you kidding me? After all, Utah has pursued these regulations twice with disastrous results. The first time,…

By Eric Goldman Finkel v. Facebook, Inc., 102578-09 (N.Y. Supreme Ct. complaint filed Feb. 24, 2009). A New York teenager has sued Facebook and four Facebook users (plus their parents) for allegedly defamatory content posted in a private Facebook group…

By Eric Goldman Mary Kay, Inc. v. Weber, 2009 WL 426470 (N.D. Tex. Feb. 20, 2009). The Justia page. There are a number of Mary Kay meta-sites tracking this and other Mary Kay lawsuits. For more filings and commentary on…

By Eric Goldman Woodhull v. Meinel, 2008 WL 5663874 (N.M. App. Ct. Oct. 24, 2008). This one just showed up in my Westlaw alerts; not sure why it took so long. The NM Supreme Court denied cert Jan. 7, 2009….

By Eric Goldman Bill McGeveran, a law professor at University of Minnesota, has posted Disclosure, Endorsement, and Identity in Social Marketing to SSRN. The paper walks through Facebook Beacon and marketers’ other efforts to take advantage of online word of…