Target Agrees to Make Its Website Accessible to the Blind Target will modify its website so it is accessible to the blind and will pay $6 million to settle a class action lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act. - 8/28/2008
	Its Free, But Still Subject to Copyright Infringement The owner of free open source software can bring an action for copyright infringement when a party using the software does not abide by the conditions of the license, the Federal Circuit found. - 8/15/2008
	Californian's Emails Gives Idaho Jurisdiction Over Can-Spam Case A California resident who sent over 100 emails to Idaho to recruit executives from a competing marketing firm can be sued in Idaho for violating the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (Can-Spam Act). - 8/14/2008
	British Tabloid Article Made Woman Immediately Famous A woman who gained instant fame after being selected for the Guinness Book of World Records can recover a domain name using her name that was registered days after she became famous. - 8/2/2008
	Indiana Bookstore Registration Statute Stopped Before It Started A law requiring persons selling sexually explicit materials to register with the Indiana Secretary of State and pay a $250 registration fee was struck down the day before it was scheduled to go into effect. - 7/2/2008
	Personal Text Messages on City Pager Used By Police Officer Are Private A city violated a police officer’s privacy rights when it retrieved and reviewed text messages on a city-issued pager in spite of a written policy that the messages were public. - 6/23/2008
	No Warrant Needed for GPS Device Placed Under Van Police do not need to obtain a warrant to place a GPS tracking device on the undercarriage of a van and to subsequently use the information obtained to obtain a conviction for burglary. - 6/10/2008
	Court Can't Enjoin Future Internet Postings Prior to Trial A trial court erred when, prior to trial, it restrained a former wife from posting on the internet allegedly defamatory statements about her former husband. - 5/23/2008
	Court Erred In Not Allowing Discovery On Internet Posting A law firm that believes it was defamed has the right in discovery to find out if the defendants have any knowledge about the internet posting. - 4/25/2008
	Court Allows High School Student to Wear 'Be Happy, Not Gay' T-Shirt In a narrowly written opinion, the Seventh Circuit has granted permission to a Naperville high school student to wear a T-shirt with the slogan “Be Happy, Not Gay” as part of a “Day of Truth” at the school. - 4/24/2008
	Matching Service Not Immune As Internet Service Provider A roommate-matching website that uses drop down menus and requires users to identify the user’s sex, sexual orientation and whether he would bring children to a household is not entitled to immunity for its actions, the Ninth Circuit ruled. - 4/4/2008
	Vulgar-laced Deposition Results in Sanctions for Witness and His Attorney A vulgar-laced, 12-hour deposition where the witness failed to answer questions and tried to intimidate the questioning attorney resulted in sanctions for the witness and his attorney, who failed to reign in the unacceptable conduct. - 3/9/2008
	Virginia Court Upholds Spammer's Conviction The three-count conviction of spammer Jeremy Jaynes has been upheld by a 4-3 vote of the Virginia Supreme Court. - 3/3/2008
	The Decision Was A Little Late for Valentine's Day A Texas statute that prohibits the advertising or sale of sexual devices was declared a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment by a federal appeals court. - 2/15/2008
	Computer Must Be Damaged For Valid Comptuer Fraud Case A plaintiff must show that his computer was actually damaged in order to properly allege a violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, a federal judge found. - 1/25/2008
	Q-Ray Bracelet's Claims Are Totally Dishonest, Court Finds Claims concerning the benefits of the Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet are "thoroughly dishonest," the Seventh Circuit found. - 1/7/2008
	Website Attorney Ranking Is Protected First Amendment Speech A website ranking of attorneys is protected by the First Amendment, a Washington federal district court found. - 12/21/2007
	Statutory Damages Award For Counterfeit Goods Bars Attorney's Fees A trademark owner who seeks statutory damages for counterfeit goods cannot also recover attorney’s fees, the Ninth Circuit said. - 12/19/2007
	Here's Why I Was Fired From My Last Job Telling a future employer why your former employer fired you does not create a claim for compelled self-defamation. - 12/7/2007
	Settlement Cannot Include Authors Who Did Not Register Their Works Freelancers who failed to register their works cannot be awarded damages in a proposed class action settlement, a federal appeals court ruled. - 12/3/2007
	Next Time Just Set the Cell Phone to Vibrate A New York judge should be removed from office after two hours of “inexplicable madness” when he jailed almost everyone in his courtroom in an ill-fated attempt to find a cell phone, a judicial conduct panel recommended. - 11/28/2007
	Illinois Judge Questions Keeping Legitimate Business Interest Standard An Illinois appellate court judge has questioned whether the courts should continue to require employers to show a “legitimate business interest” before a non-compete convenant is enforced. - 11/13/2007
	Pay Per Clicks Sufficient For Jurisdiction in Target State A Florida-based website that targeted the Chicago market and received payment based on the number of clicks on each hyperlink can be sued in Illinois. - 10/25/2007
	Spamhaus Default Upheld But Injunction and $11 Million Award Are Tossed Out The Spamhaus Project default judgment concerning its designation of e360 Insight as a spammer will stand, but the $11 million in damages and injunction have been tossed out. - 9/4/2007
	Mean-Spirited Email Contained Only Non-Libelous Opinions A mean-spirited email commenting on a fired newspaper publisher was not libelous since it contained only opinions, not objectively verifiable facts. - 8/25/2007
	Images Found by Circuit City Repairman Can Be Used Against Computer Owner A person who had Circuit City install a new DVD drive on his computer waived any right to privacy when the store found child pornography during a test of the new system, a Pennsylvania appellate court found. - 8/14/2007
	Showing James Brown's Image on Website May Violate Publicity Law The estate of the late singer-songwriter James Brown may be feeling so good right now. - 8/9/2007
	Pop-ups on Non-Law Firm Websites Get Court Approval Attorneys in New York will be able to advertise using pop-ups on other websites, a New York federal district court ruled. - 7/26/2007
	Overstock.com Can Sue Stock Report Publisher for Defamation A publisher who worked with a hedge fund to write negative reports on Overstock.com may be sued for defamation. - 6/1/2007
	Google's Search Results May Contribute to Copyright Infringement Perfect 10 didn't get a perfect score in its appeal against Google, but the court said the search engine giant's results may be contibuting to copyright infringement. - 5/16/2007
	Menu Options Make Website Liable for Content Under CDA A roommate matching website that gives users pull down menu options with prelisted preferences may be liable for violating the Fair Housing Act, the court of appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled. - 5/15/2007
	Court May Enjoin Party From Repeating Statements Found Defamatory A divided California Supreme Court found that a defendant can be enjoined from repeating certain statements after a trial court found the statements were defamatory. - 4/30/2007
	Town's Permit Process Violates Free Speech for Jews for Jesus A citation issued against a volunteer for Jews for Jesus for speaking and distributing literature in a public park was dismissed because the town’s ordinance was unconstitutionally overbroad and because she was told that no permit process existed. - 4/11/2007
	Child Online Privacy Act Is Unconstitutionally Under and Overbroad As widely anticipated, a federal judge has found the 1998 Child Online Privacy Act violates the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution. - 3/22/2007
	University Can Limit Solicitations to Walkway A Vincennes University policy restricting uninvited “solicitations” to a walkway outside the student union and banning such solicitations from the school’s library lawn does not violate the uninvited speaker’s constitutional rights. - 2/14/2007
	Lack of Sales Defeats Infringement Claim for Descriptive Mark Even though a maker of custom vans obtained a trademark registration for “Work-N-Play,” the fact that the company made only one sale that didn’t even use the trademark prevented it from claiming infringement by another van maker. - 2/7/2007
	Police do not need warrant to use GPS to track suspect Attaching a global positioning device on a car to track the suspect’s movements without a warrant does not constitute an unlawful search, the Seventh Circuit has found. - 2/5/2007
	Honking Horn in Support of Peace Demonstrators Costs Teacher Her Job An elementary school teacher can be fired for telling her class that she honked her car’s horn in support of demonstrators against the war in Iraq, the Seventh Circuit found. - 1/25/2007
	Hospital Not Liable for Barroom Chit Chat Revealing Medical Test Results A hospital is not liable for a casual comment by one of its employees in a bar that revealed the results of a pregnancy test, the Illinois Supreme Court has found. - 1/24/2007
	Oh, Rats!!! Psssft......Can't Sue the Attorney for Defamation, Court Says An attorney who sent a letter to an employer accusing an employee of stabbing an inflatable rat cannot be sued for defamation since the letter was sent to a potential litigant, an Illinois appellate court found. - 12/28/2006
	Sales From Rock 'N Roll Treasure Trove Prompt Artists' Lawsuit A treasure trove of rock ‘n roll posters, tapes and memorabilia of the Grateful Dead, the Doors, Santana and Led Zeppelin that are for sale on wolfgangsvault.com has become the focus of a copyright and trademark infringement lawsuit. - 12/22/2006
	Saying Mob Figures Gave Attorney $1 Million Cannot Be Innocently Constructed Writing in a book that two reputed mob figures were “semijubilant” after paying a Chicago attorney $1 million in cash skimmed from a casino to represent them cannot be innocently constructed but rather is libel per se, the Illinois Supreme Court found. - 12/22/2006
	Supercrosslive.com's Cycling Link to SFX Bites the Dust You won’t be downloading supercross motorcycle racing events live from supercrosslive.com any time soon. - 12/20/2006
	Development Agreement Did Not Prevent 'Partner' from Developing Competing Product A development agreement drafted without lawyers did not create a fiduciary duty to prevent one of the “partners” from developing a competing computer touch screen, the Seventh Circuit found. - 12/12/2006
	Internet Users Are Protected For Posting Another's Libelous Statements A person who republishes potentially libelous statements of another on the Internet is immune from being sued, the California Supreme Court has ruled. - 11/25/2006
	Copyright Office Expands List of Exemptions To Anti-Circumvention Rule The U.S. Copyright Office has expanded the classes of works that are exempt from the anti-circumvention restrictions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). - 11/25/2006
	Attorney Can Sue Insurance Adjustor for Saying He Just Takes People's Money An attorney can sue an insurance adjustor for libel when the adjustor said that the attorney “just takes people’s money” and that his clients receive less than what the insurance company offered. The court reasoned that the statements were more than mere - 11/19/2006
	Craigslist Not Liable For Discriminatory Housing Advertisements Craigslist is not liable for publishing housing rental and sale advertisements that contain discriminatory statements based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion and family status that would otherwise be prohibited by federal law, a federal dis - 11/15/2006
	GPL Does Not Violate Antritrust Laws Free open-source software covered by a General Public License (GPL) does not violate the U.S. antitrust laws, the Seventh Circuit has confirmed. - 11/13/2006
	utube.com Is Too Popular Thanks to YouTube The popularity of YouTube has increased visits to utube.com and--according to the owner of the domain name—that is a big problem. - 11/7/2006
	Flyer in Judicial Race May Be Disgusting But Not Libelous A flyer in a judicial race “full of disparagement and innuendo unbefitting a campaign for judicial office” cannot support a claim for libel or tortuous interference with a prospective economic advantage, an Illinois appellate court found. - 11/7/2006
	More Ringtones Should Be Available Thanks to Copyright Office Decision More songs should be available for cell phones thanks to a decision by the U.S. Copyright Office that found most ringtones are subject to compulsory statutory licensing, not individual licensing. - 10/18/2006
	Military Court Finds E-Mail Messages On Marine Corps Computers Are Private A Marine Corps officer has an expectation of privacy in her e-mail messages sent and stored in a government computer system, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces has found. - 10/13/2006
	Prohibiting Nude Dancing In Bars Does Not Violate First Amendment Rights Prohibiting nude and seminude dancing in establishments that serve alcoholic beverages does not violate the dancer’s First Amendment rights of expression, the Illinois Supreme Court said. - 10/6/2006
	Google's Sale of Trademark Terms For Searches Is Not Use of Trademarks Google’s sale of trademarks as keywords is not a “use” under the law to support a claim for infringement, a New York federal district court found. - 9/29/2006
	ADA Requires Website to be Accessible to the Blind A website not accessible to the blind may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) since violations of the ADA are not limited to brick and mortar facilities, a federal court in San Francisco has ruled. - 9/28/2006
	Interim Task Force Recommends Restitution For Victims of ID Theft Requiring federal agencies to give notice of breaches, developing a universal police report for reporting identity theft, and allowing restitution to victims for time spent to regain their identity are three recommendations of a federal task force. - 9/25/2006
	Excuse Me Judge, Can I Use Your Blue Pencil? Attorneys who seek to strike portions of their opponent’s brief will have their own briefs shortened by double the length of the motion, one judge for the Seventh Circuit has declared. - 9/25/2006
	Court Strikes Down Illinois Requirements For Independent Candidates The requirements for an independent candidate getting on the Illinois ballot are so onerous that they violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments, the Seventh Circuit ruled. - 9/20/2006
	No Copyright Infringement When Product Duplicated Is Used Internally There is no copyright infringement where a company has a third-party build an assembly machine based on copyrighted drawings of another when the company had been granted a license to duplicate the machine for its own use. - 9/20/2006
	Court Clips Distributing Pamplets on Homosexuality in Cosmetology Class A cosmetology instructor’s distribution of pamphlets on the sinfulness of homosexuality is neither protected speech nor does the school’s prohibiting such distribution constitute prior restraint under the First Amendment. - 9/20/2006
	Court Expects Trade Secret to be Rich in Detail The appellate court expects a trade secret to be "rich in detail" since general terms generally are widely known and not capable of being protected. - 9/14/2006
	Xanga.com Agrees to $1 Million Penalty for Violating Children's Online Privacy Act The popular social networking website xanga.com has agreed to pay $1 million in civil penalties for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). - 9/13/2006
	Restrictions on Advisory Questions on Ballot Are Reasonable Illinois properly denied a petition seeking to place an advisory question on the November ballot that the state would legally recognize marriage only as being between a man and a woman, the Seventh Circuit has ruled. - 9/8/2006
	Anti-Bush T-Shirt With Anti-Drug Message OK to Wear to School A Vermont middle school was wrong to force a student to cover up part of an anti-drug and anti-Bush message on a T-shirt he wore to school because such action interfered with his First Amendment rights to engage in political speech. - 9/6/2006
	Food Fight? No, This Court-Ordered Lunch Is to End Disputes Attorneys fighting over discovery disputes were ordered by a court to go to lunch to resolve their differences. - 9/4/2006
	Statute Banning Sexually Oriented Business Billboards Is Unconstitutional A state statute banning billboards that advertise businesses that offer sexually explicit entertainment and materials within a mile of a highway unconstitutionally restricts commercial speech. - 8/22/2006
	Chicago Cubs' Judges Don't Have This Problem A California judge who stayed at a baseball game rather than return to court to take a verdict in a murder case has been admonished publicly for his actions. - 8/22/2006
	Adminsitration's Warrentless Wiretapping Program Violates Constitution The National Security Agency’s program to intercept without warrant or judicial approval international telephone calls and internet communications of U.S. citizens violates the U.S. Constitution, a federal district court has ruled. - 8/18/2006
	Minnesota's Violent Video Games Statute Declared Unconstitutional A statute that would have fined those under 17 who rented or purchased violent video games has been declared unconstitutional by the Minnesota district court. - 8/2/2006
	But Can Mom Still Say I'm the Best Lawyer? Advertisements claiming that attorneys are "Super Lawyers" or "Best Lawyers in America" violate the New Jersey prohibition against comparative advertising and advertising that creates an unjustified expectation of results. - 8/1/2006
	Bar Group Seeks to Limit Presidential Signing Statements The frequent use of Presidential signing statements that state the President will ignore and not enforce provisions of enacted legislation was condemned by a special Task Force of the American Bar Association. - 7/26/2006
	Kinderstart.com's Complaint Against Google Fails to Meet the Grade Kinderstart.com’s complaint against Google, Inc. for monopolistic practices and unfair competition failed to meet the grade, a trial court has ruled. - 7/24/2006
	'Cleaned-up' Movies Infringe On Studios' Copyrights Motion picture studios can prevent companies from selling unauthorized “cleaned-up” versions of motion pictures since such editing infringes on the studios' copyrights. - 7/12/2006
	Pebble Beach (US) Cannot Sue Pebble Beach (UK) in the United States for Its Website Pebble Beach (without a golf course in the United Kingdom) cannot be sued in the United States for trademark infringement over its website by Pebble Beach (the one with the golf course in the US). - 7/12/2006
	Cheezy Comments OK, But Not Comparision to Iraq Information Minister Comparing your goods to your competitor’s as the difference between dried cream cheese and real Parmigiano is not libelous but saying your competitor’s integrity is the same as the Iraq information officer can be libelous, an Illinois appellate court said - 7/5/2006
	To Be Fair, Report On Court Pleadings Must Be Accurate The “fair reporting” privilege for documents filed with a court trumps actual malice as long as the report is an accurate summary of the pleadings, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled. - 6/29/2006
	Blogger Not Liable for Third Party Posts to His Message Board A blogger who maintains a message board for others is protected from being sued for libel for the third party postings under the Communications Decency Act a court has found. - 6/2/2006
	Loading Program on All Computers Is Copyright Infringement The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department was out of step when it loaded the RUMBA program into all of its 6,000 computers when it had a license for only half that number making it liable for copyright infringement. - 5/18/2006
	Sending and Mining Metadata by Lawyers May Be Unethical Sending electronic documents containing metadata and mining for metadata in documents may be an unethical practice for attorneys. - 5/10/2006
	Criticizing the Coach Is Protected Speech But Refusing to Board the Bus Is Not Players can criticize their coach for being abusive but refusing to play in the game for the coach is not protected under the First Amendment, an appellate court has ruled. - 5/3/2006
	It's Legal Again to Say 'You Call That A Strike You @#$%&!' in Georgia It's OK again to heckle the umpire in Georgia--thanks to the Georgia Supreme Court. - 4/28/2006
	But Would Jesus Wear the T-Shirt? A high school was correct in prohibiting a student from wearing a t-shirt with religious slogans in response to a day dedicated to teach tolerance of others, a federal appeals court has ruled. - 4/27/2006
	Invention Promoter Misled Inventors on its Success Claims An invention promotion firm that mainly promoted its profits has been ordered by a federal judge to pay $26 million and stop its deceptive marketing practices. - 4/27/2006
	Taxpayer May Pursue Notre Dame For Restitution of Federal Funds It may not be another bowl loss, but Notre Dame lost its bid to stop a taxpayer from seeking restitution of a federal grant to train teachers for Catholic schools, the Seventh Circuit ruled. - 4/14/2006
	Pandering Provision of Child Pornography Law Found Unconstitutional The "pandering" provisions of the federal child pornography law are unconstitutionally overly-broad and vague, the Eleventh Circuit has found, reversing a conviction under the statute. - 4/10/2006
	Age Discrimination Suit Won't Play for Church Music Director A fired church music director cannot sue the diocese for age discrimination since the selection of music is religious in nature, the Seventh Circuit has found. - 4/5/2006
	Hosptial May be Liable for Chit-Chat in Bar Revealing Pregnancy Test Results Idle chit-chat between a hospital employee and the twin sister revealing the results of a pregancy test can lead to a cause of action against the hospital for invasion of privacy. - 3/17/2006
	Court Gives Thumbs Down To Google's Thumbnail Images Perfect 10 may not have scored a 10 but it did win a preliminary injunction to stop Google from displaying thumbnail images from Perfect 10's website on the popular Google Image Search. - 2/22/2006
	FBI Can Keep Edited Files on Law Professor An FBI file that contains excerpts from a speech in the 1970s does not have to be updated or the entire speech included since the file is maintained as part of a law enforcement activity and is not a violation of the law professor's First Amendment rights - 2/2/2006
	ChoicePoint Agrees to Pay $15 Million For Releasing Consumer Data ChoicePoint, Inc.'s sloppy business practices that lead to the release of 163,000 consumer reports from its database will cost the company $15 million in penalties and consumer redress. - 1/26/2006
	FTC Tags Company for Assisting in Violating Do Not Call Registry A company and its chief executive have been tagged with the Federal Trade Commission's first penalty for "assisting and facilitating" violations of the Do Not Call Registry. - 1/25/2006
	Taxpayer Can Challenge Bush's Faith-Based Initiative Spending The use of non-earmarked funds from the executive branch is sufficient to allow a taxpayer to challenge expenditures for conferences boosting President Bush's "Faith-Based and Community Initiatives." - 1/17/2006
	Employer Must Report Employee's Child Porn Viewing To Authorities An employer who has reason to know an employee may be viewing child pornographic sites on his computer has an obligation to discipline the employee and report the activity to law enforcement officials. - 1/9/2006
	FTC Hits DIRECTV With $5.3 Million Penalty for Violating Do Not Call List DIRECTV agreed to pay a record $5.3 million for its telemarketing efforts that violated the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call rule. - 12/13/2005
	Now That Was How Many Song Samples, Again? "Sampling" over 1,300 songs from the Internet to decide which ones to purchase is not fair use, the Seventh Circuit has found. - 12/12/2005
	Excuse Me, Have You Seen An Elephant In a Mouse Hole? Stating that Congress does not hide elelphants in mouse holes, the D.C. Circuit affirmed that the Federal Trade Commission cannot order attorneys to comply with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act's financial privacy disclosure provisions. - 12/12/2005
	Principal's Call To Parent About Lesbian Student Violated Her Privacy A student who is openly gay at her high school has a right to privacy to keep that information from being given to her parents by the school’s principal, a federal court has found. - 12/2/2005
	Judge Bars Sectarian Opening Prayer For Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives has been barred from following its long tradition of opening with a prayer until those giving the invocation stop referring to Jesus Christ, the Savior and the Son of God. - 12/1/2005