Socially Aware

July 23, 2013 - Section 230 Safe Harbor, Litigation
TheDirty.com Goes to Trial
In 2012, we reported on a pair of district court decisions that, based on similar facts, split on whether defendant TheDirty.com, a gossip website, qualified for immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), the 1996 law that states “[n]o provider or
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June 16, 2013 - Litigation
German Court Holds Google Responsible for Its Search Suggestions
By: Alja Poler De Zwart
On May 15, 2013, in a case filed against Google by an entrepreneur selling dietary supplements and cosmetics (the “Plaintiff”), the German Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe ( Bundesgerichtshof , the “Federal Court”) ruled that Google must remove any defamatory suggestions generated by
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May 29, 2013 - E-Commerce, Litigation
UK: The Latest Social Media Legal Updates
In our May 30, 2012 post on the Socially Aware blog— “Should We All Be Getting the Twitter “Jitters”? Be Careful What You Say Online (Particularly in the United Kingdom)” —we considered a variety of UK laws being used to regulate the content of
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May 21, 2013 - Copyright, Litigation
The Second Circuit’s Aereo Math: One Copy + One Subscriber ≠ Public Performance
Last week—the week of May 12, 2013—proved to be an eventful week for Aereo. On May 14, 2013, the controversial broadcast television streaming service filed a motion for summary judgment in the Southern District of New York on copyright claims brought by broadcast television
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April 24, 2013 - E-Commerce, Litigation
E-Commerce Providers Take Note: New York’s Highest Court Upholds “Amazon” Sales Tax Statute
On March 28, 2013, the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, issued a decision in Overstock.com, Inc. & Amazon.com, LLC, et al ., holding that New York’s “click-through nexus” statute does not violate the Commerce Clause or the Due Process Clause of the U.S.
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April 17, 2013 - Copyright, Litigation
Federal Court Says No to “Used” Digital Music Marketplace
Digital music has come a long way since the era of widespread unauthorized sharing, with digital music sales estimated to be approaching $6 billion worldwide. As this market grows, a natural question is whether there can be a legitimate digital analog to the traditional
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April 16, 2013 - Litigation
Spoliation of Social Media Evidence: New Jersey Court Cracks Down
A March 23, 2013 decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey serves as a cautionary tale for litigants. As a result of some arguably poor decisions by the plaintiff and likely miscommunication between the parties regarding access to the
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April 09, 2013 - FTC, Litigation
Federal Court in Manhattan “Likes” Service of Process via Facebook
On March 7, 2013, a federal court in Manhattan ruled, in Federal Trade Commission v. PCCare247 Inc. , that service via Facebook is an acceptable alternative means of serving court documents on foreign defendants. Although this is a watershed ruling in many respects, in
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April 02, 2013 - Copyright, Litigation
Southern District of New York Examines Whether News Clipping Service Qualifies as Fair Use Under Copyright Act
It is well settled that Internet search engines’ reproduction of limited portions of copyrighted materials in order to direct Internet users to locations of original content constitutes “fair use” under the Copyright Act. (See, for example, Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. and Kelly
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March 20, 2013 - Privacy, Litigation
More Trouble With Work-Related Social Media Accounts
We have written before about cases involving disputes between employers and employees over work-related social media accounts, but a new case out of Arizona federal court raises issues that appear to be unlike those we have addressed previously. In Castle Megastore Group, Inc. v.
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