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09/27/2007 08:53 AM
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Gimme an "A"!
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As anyone who has flown Southwest Airlines well knows, Southwest doesn't assign seats in advance. Instead, you are assigned a boarding priority when you check in at the airport or online, up to 24 hours before the flight. At the gate, you line up with others in your boarding group, and then when your group is called, you stampede onto the plane looking for anything other than a middle seat. (
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05/15/2007 01:44 PM
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R.I.P.
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The Rev. Jerry Falwell died today. I met him once, in 1986 or so, when he came to my law school to give a talk. While I disagreed (and still do) with most of what he stood for politically, I enjoyed talking with him then and have always had a great deal of respect for him.A few years ago I served on a dispute resolution panel that awarded the domain name fallwell.com to Dr. Falwell. I
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11/21/2006 08:51 AM
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More CDA Immunity Cases
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A couple of cases involving service provider immunity under the CDA (47 U.S.C. § 230(c)) came down within the past week. In Chicago Lawyers' Committee v. Craigslist, Inc. (N.D. Ill. Nov. 14, 2006), the court held that the CDA bars Craigslist from being held liable for publishing discriminatory housing ads in violation of the Fair Housing Act, although the court in dicta rejected the "essentially
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10/18/2006 05:16 PM
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E360 Insight v. The Spamhaus Project
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I'm following the E360-Spamhaus dispute with great interest, and have been discussing it in my Cyberspace Law seminar at The John Marshall Law School. The case presents some fascinating issues in the areas of spam law, Internet governance, civil procedure, and international law -- and it happens to have a handful of connections with John Marshall.
In the district court, the case was heard by
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08/23/2006 04:59 PM
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Watch out for the googly eyes!
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Google apparently has been sending out cease-and-desist letters complaining about the word "google" used as a generic term for searching the Internet (E-Commerce News; ZDNet News). I don't think we really need "google" (or "googling") as a synonym for "search the web," but I'm amused that the word has taken on so quickly.On the other hand, "tivo" as a generic term for a DVR (and as a verb
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08/18/2006 02:44 PM
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Don't mess with my tivo (generically speaking)
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TiVo, which manufactures digital video recorders (DVRs), is involved in a patent dispute with EchoStar, the owner of Dish Network. TiVo alleges that the generic DVRs offered by Dish to its subscribers infringe upon various patents held by TiVo. A federal court yesterday ordered EchoStar to stop selling the allegedly infringing DVRs. The court also gave EchoStar 30 days to disable both the
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08/16/2006 08:47 AM
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Captain Copyright is a stinkybutt poopyhead
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In the spirit of my now-static Don't Link website, here is an unauthorized link to a Canadian website that apparently doesn't like being linked to: "Captain Copyright" is a site operated by Access Copyright, the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency. The site's "Intellectual Property Notice and Disclaimer" prohibits other sites from linking to Captain Copyright if a site's contents, in their
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03/22/2006 08:28 AM
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Parody for Dummies
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I recently ran across this item on Amazon.com: a book entitled Ventriloquism for Dummies (Black Moss Press, 2002). It doesn't appear to be approved or licensed by Wiley, but it does look a lot like Wiley's Dummies books.(A few bloggers have previously made note of this book, including The Honest Hypocrite and J-Walk. Other bloggers have suggested the title, apparently without realizing it
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02/11/2006 03:59 PM
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Blogging for dummies
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OK, I admit I've been delinquent in posting to this blog; it's just not particularly high on my priority list at the moment. But I couldn't resist posting about this item (via Marty Schwimmer's Trademark Blog):Jason McCabe Calacanis writes in his blog today that he has received a couple of nastygrams from Wiley Publishing after a member of his blogging network used "for dummies" in the title of
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06/08/2005 01:23 PM
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Blogs as lawyer advertising
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The Kentucky Attorneys' Advertising Commission apparently has taken the position that every post on a lawyer's blog constitutes an advertisement, requiring the lawyer to submit a copy of the post to the Commission along with a $50 filing fee. See Ben Cowgill's Legal Ethics Blog, Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground, Dennis Kennedy in Between Lawyers, and David Giacalone in f/k/a. Eugene Volokh
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05/16/2005 02:17 PM
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Wining across state lines
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The Supreme Court today handed down Granholm v. Heald, striking down (by a 5-4 majority) state laws that ban direct sales to consumers by out-of-state wineries while permitting direct sales by in-state wineries, on the ground that such laws violate the dormant Commerce Clause.
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04/12/2005 09:14 AM
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Watch what you blog
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If you're planning to commit a crime, don't brag about it in your blog. (State v. Velardi (N.C. App. Apr. 5, 2005), via InternetCases.com)
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04/13/2005 02:31 PM
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ICANN do whatever I want
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The Ninth Circuit held last week (in McNeil v. Verisign, Inc.) that ICANN isn't a state actor and therefore isn't required to respect free speech or due process rights under the U.S. Constitution. (For general background, see these law review symposium issues: 6 J. Small & Emerging Bus. L. no. 1 (Spring 2002) and
15 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. no. 3 (Spring 1997).)
UPDATE: Eric Goldman
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03/08/2005 02:00 PM
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The King v. The King of Pop?
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(Via Kings & Things)Â Elvis tribute artist Matthew Tuttle last week won a seat in the public lottery to watch a day of Michael Jackson's child molestation trial. The Sonora (Cal.) Union Democrat reports that Tuttle was a criminal defense lawyer before giving up the law to live life as Elvis.
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03/02/2005 06:22 AM
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MGM v. Grokster
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Oral arguments in MGM v. Grokster are scheduled for March 29. The briefs of the parties along with numerous amicus briefs are available from EFF. (I signed onto the brief submitted by 60 Technology Law Professors and USACM.)
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02/27/2005 03:07 PM
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eBay accused of Shill Bidding
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A class action suit filed in California last week alleges fraud and unconscionability in eBay's bidding system. The suit focuses on the manner in which eBay handles proxy bids, and characterizes eBay's actions as tantamount to "shill bidding." The plaintiffs' firm has issued a press release; Reuters [alternate link] and InternetNews.com have more.The plaintiffs may have a point, but the impact
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02/20/2005 08:23 AM
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No Spam for Cows?
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Karl Auerbach notes that cows infected with mad cow disease enjoy greater privacy protection than people who register domain names.
I told you we were on the wrong side of the cow.
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02/20/2005 08:21 AM
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All Your Mail Is Spam
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CircleID reports that spam now represents 70%-85% of all email. That sounds very low to me -- those numbers must be based upon email that is actually delivered (i.e., they don't include spam that is blocked successfully).
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02/15/2005 10:58 AM
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Don't Spam My Domain
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Last year the FTC rejected my suggestion that it permit domain-wide opt-out in a national Do Not E-Mail Registry ... but the FCC has now done precisely that in its registry of Wireless Domain Names.
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12/18/2002 02:33 PM
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AP: Consumers get telemarketer relief (also see FTC's National "Do Not Call" Registry)
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12/17/2002 01:03 PM
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Associated Press: Cubs file lawsuit against rooftop owners (the Cubs should fare better in court than on the field)
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11/20/2002 09:39 PM
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Wired News: Big retailers squeeze FatWallet (Wal-Mart and other big retailers threaten bargain shopping site with copyright suit for reporting their sale prices)
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11/06/2002 03:32 PM
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BBspot: Ryder pledges to find the real shoplifters
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11/05/2002 02:05 PM
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InternetNews.com: AOL loses subscriber privacy suit (also see Reuters)
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02/14/2005 07:53 AM
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CNET News.com: Digital copyright law on trial (also see ACLU information on Edelman v. N2H2)
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