Top Internet Law Developments of 2018
…year for Internet law. As I tweeted in June: When future historians write the Internet’s history, Spring 2018 will mark the turning point when regulators stopped giving a fuck about…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 7 (Content Moderation, Section 230, & More)
…Amac: Recent Podcasts & Articles on Content Moderation * CNN: Complaints prompt Amazon to remove products that are offensive to Muslims Election * New Yorker: Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook…
Fourth Amendment Limits NYC’s Demands for Airbnb Customer Records
…conjures, underscore the potential far-reaching implications of the City’s position. Implications This case reminds me a lot of the Backpage v. McKenna ruling from 2012. In that case, Washington passed…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 4 (Trespass, Contracts)
…that this litigation has generated) into four rough phases of thinking around the critical access question. The first runs through the first decade of scraping litigation, and is marked with…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 3 (Keyword Advertising)
…the practice of trademark filing, including ‘trademark attorney’ and ‘trademark lawyers'[,] with copy that misleads consumers into believing that they will be represented by attorneys or at least will provide…
2H 2018 Quick Links, Part 2 (Trademarks)
…Accordingly, the owner of the infringing mark may still improperly benefit from the trademark owner’s goodwill and reputation. Here, if Simms uses the term “Coachella” in the metatags of his…
Your Periodic Reminder That Keyword Ad Lawsuits Are Stupid–Passport Health v. Avance
…one is around to hear it, is it trademark infringement? As a bonus insult, the court denigrates the strength of the “Passport Health” trademark, saying it’s a “conceptually weak” mark….
FOSTA Doesn’t Help Pro Se Litigant’s Defamation Claim Against Facebook
…Section 230 case. The court applies the standard three-part test for a Section 230(c)(1) defense: 1) Facebook is an ICS provider (cites to Sikhs for Justice and Fraley). Mark Zuckerberg…
Section 230 Helps Malware Vendor Avoid Liability for Blocking Decision–PC Drivers v. Malwarebytes
…subjective opinion than a factual assertion. Trademark Infringement PC Drivers claimed that referencing its software caused consumers to think that Malwarebytes endorsed or sponsored its products. The court correctly calls…
The Necessity of Geoblocking in the Age of (Almost) Unavoidable Geolocation (Guest Blog Post)
…“Scrutinizer.” The plaintiff has a federal trademark registration for the mark in the United States. The German defendant, while having no U.S. trademark registration, used the mark on the Internet…