Socially Aware

January 12, 2015 - Terms of Use, Cloud Computing
Shorter and Simpler, Yes – But Is IBM’s New Cloud Services Agreement Any Sweeter?
By: Anthony M. Ramirez
IBM has been receiving rave reviews in the media for simplifying its Cloud Services Agreement to a mere two pages in length. And yes, the Agreement also boasts healthy margins and a normal font. But does the Agreement’s reasonable length equate to reasonable terms?
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November 24, 2014 - Terms of Use, Litigation
Forced to Cyber-Spy: Court Rules Parents Can Be Held Negligent for Child’s Facebook Activity
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Are parents now liable for what their kids post to Facebook? According to a recent decision in the Georgia Court of Appeals, they are. The Georgia Court of Appeals held that the parents of a seventh-grade student could be found negligent for failing to
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November 24, 2014 - Terms of Use
Facebook Dislikes Fake Likes
Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can buy phony Facebook “likes.” And those can go a long way toward making a small business owner’s dreams come true, right? Wrong, explains Facebook site integrity engineer Matt Jones in a recent post
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October 05, 2014 - Terms of Use
Implementing and Enforcing Online Terms of Use
By: Aaron P. Rubin
Operators of social media platforms and other websites must manage a large number of risks arising from their interactions with users. In an effort to maintain a degree of predictability and mitigate some of those risks, website operators routinely present users with terms of
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September 23, 2014 - Terms of Use, Litigation
To Click or Not to Click? Ninth Circuit Rejects Browsewrap Arbitration Clause
In Kevin Khoa Nguyen v. Barnes & Noble Inc. , 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 15868 (9th Cir. 2014), decided on August 18, 2014, the Ninth Circuit rejected an attempt to bind a consumer to an arbitration clause found in an online terms of use
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December 19, 2013 - Terms of Use, Privacy
German Court Finds 25 Provisions in Google’s Online Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to Be Unenforceable
In November 2013, the Berlin District Court ruled that all of the 25 provisions in Google’s online terms of use and privacy policy that had been challenged by the German Federation of Consumer Associations (VZBV) are unenforceable. In reaching its decision, the court found
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December 03, 2013 - Terms of Use, Litigation
Potential Limitations Placed on Unilateral Right to Modify Terms of Use
By: Jessica Kaufman
Contractual provisions giving a website operator the unilateral right to change its end user terms of service are ubiquitous and appear in the online terms of many major social media sites and other websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google. Although amendments to terms
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November 06, 2013 - Terms of Use, Employment Law, UK High Court, Litigation
Recent UK Court Rulings on Employees’ Use of LinkedIn
Following our post on U.S. lawsuits concerning the ownership of LinkedIn and Twitter accounts , we report on a recent United Kingdom High Court ruling that considered who was entitled to operate four LinkedIn Groups , and other UK cases that have addressed related
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April 29, 2013 - Terms of Use, Arbitration
Administering Arbitration Clauses in Online Terms of Service Agreements
Morrison & Foerster’s Sherman Kahn Interviews American Arbitration Association Vice President, Sandra Partridge Many companies are providing for arbitration of disputes in their terms of service agreements governing use of their websites or other online or mobile services. Arbitration clauses in online terms of
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February 14, 2013 - DMCA, Terms of Use, Copyright, IP, Litigation
Thinking About Using Pictures Pulled From Twitter? Think Again, New York Court Warns
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
If you want to use those pictures you found on Twitter, beware. A federal judge in New York recently held that taking photos from Twitter to use for a commercial purpose infringes the photographer’s copyrights. On January 14, 2013, Judge Alison Nathan ruled that
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