E-Commerce Law

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of May 5, 2008

It looks like Microsoft won't be buying Yahoo afterall.

(Link:  Microsoft walks away from Yahoo deal at SilliconValley.com)

The six major Hollywood movie studios have won a $111 million judgment against TorrentSpy.com.  "The judgment, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, fined the operators of the Web site, Valence Media LLC, $30,000 per [copyright] violation for nearly 3,700 illegal movie and TV show downloads."

(Link:  Movie studios win $111 million judgment against file-sharing site at SilliconValley.com)

E-Commerce Law Briefs is a weekly feature appearing each Friday afternoon on E-Commerce Law. Each week, E-Commerce Law Briefs will provide a brief summary and commentary on recent legal news affecting e-commerce businesses.

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of April 28, 2008

MySpace has obtained a default judgment against "spam king" Sanford Wallace.  Wallace had failed to respond to written discovery or sit for a deposition.  "'It is...a defendant's responsibility to respond to discovery, obey court orders, and avoid dilatory tactics," the court wrote in its order. "Taking all of the above factors into account, a default is appropriate. The court finds that Wallace's noncompliance is due to willfulness, fault, or bad faith...Wallace has had every opportunity to avoid the sanction of default. (He) has never provided any explanation for his behavior to the court.'"

(Link:  MySpace wins suit against 'spam king' at CNET News)

A federal judge has rejected the RIAA's "making available" argument in its copyright infringement suit against a husband and wife.  "While the couple lacks legal representation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said it filed an amicus brief on behalf of the couple . . . .  The EFF argued against the RIAA's "making available" position, saying in a statement that it 'amounts to suing someone for attempted distribution, something the Copyright Act has never recognized.'"

(Link:  Court rejects RIAA's 'making available' priacy argument at CNET News)

"Amazon.com has filed a lawsuit challenging New York State's new law forcing online retailers to collect sales tax on shipments to state residents."

(Link:  Amazon Sues Over State Law on Collection of Sales Tax at nytimes.com)

E-Commerce Law Briefs is a weekly feature appearing each Friday afternoon on E-Commerce Law. Each week, E-Commerce Law Briefs will provide a brief summary and commentary on recent legal news affecting e-commerce businesses.

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of April 21, 2008

Apparantly, we're about to reach the end of the Internet.  Accordingly to AT&T, the Internet's current network architecture will reach the limits of its capacity by 2010.

(Link:  AT&T:  Internet to hit full capacity by 2010 at CNET News)

Sixteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, "Web sites ending in the Soviet ".su" domain name have been rising - registrations increased 45 percent this year alone. Bloggers, entrepreneurs and die-hard communists are all part of a small but growing online community resisting repeated efforts to extinguish the online Soviet outpost."

(Link:  Back in the USSR:   Soviet Internet domain name resists death at SilliconValley.com)

An advertiser has sued Google Inc. in federal court in California alleging fraud in connection with Google's AdSense program.  "The plaintiff in the case, David Almeida, had signed up for Google ads to promote his private investigation business in Massachusetts. Because he did not want to buy AdSense ads, Almeida said he left the maximum per-click bid blank, believing 'optional' meant he could opt out of the AdSense program by doing so. Instead, it turned out the AdWords bid applied when he did not exercise that option, and he should have put 'zero' into the box to opt out, said his attorney, Brian Kabateck. "

(Link:  Google accused of deception in selling AdSense keyword ads at washingtonpost.com)

eBay has sued Craigslist for "unfairly diluting" its interest in the community ad site. 

(Link:  EBay sues Craigslist ad website at BBC News)

E-Commerce Law Briefs is a weekly feature appearing each Friday afternoon on E-Commerce Law. Each week, E-Commerce Law Briefs will provide a brief summary and commentary on recent legal news affecting e-commerce businesses.

Defending a Criminal Case in a Cyber World

Last night, I had the pleasure of speaking at a dinner meeting of the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys Association (MCDAA).  The topic was "Defending a Criminal Case in a Cyber World" and I promised the group I would post the outline of my presentation here today. 

If you attended the meeting, feel free to post a comment letting me know your thoughts or asking any questions that I wasn't able to fully answer last night.  If you weren't at the meeting, the outline may still provide some useful information, particularly as to the admissibility of certain information taken from Internet sources.  You can view or print the outline (in PDF format), by clicking here.  (To save the outline to your hard drive, right click the link and select "Save Target As . . .")

Federal Court Upholds YouTube Terms of Use

On April 15, 2008, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed a lawsuit filed by a YouTube user in the wrong venue.  In Bowen v. YouTube, Inc., 2008 WL 1757578 (W.D. Wash. 2008), the Court enforced YouTube's Terms of Use which require that all suits arising from YouTube's website be brought in San Mateo County, California.  In support of the ruling, the Court noted that

[while] new commerce on the Internet has exposed courts to many new situations, it has not fundamentally changed the principles of contract . . . when a benefit is offered subject to stated conditions and the offeree makes a decision to take the benefit with knowledge of the terms of the offer, the taking constitutes an acceptance of the terms, which accordingly become binding on the offeree.

Id. at *2 (quoting Register.com, Inc. v. Verio, Inc., 356 F.3d 393, 403 (2d Cir. 2004).

This case further demonstrates the importance of including an enforceable choice of law provision in a website's terms of use.