Balough
December 15, 2013
A former wife who bugged a teddy bear to record her ex’s conversations with their child violated the federal Wiretap Act, a Nebraska district court ruled. Dianna Divingnzzo wanted to obtain full custody of her daughter, Ellenna, so she planted a recording device in her then 4-year-old daughter’s teddy bear. She then told her ex-husband […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
An individual’s ZIP code is personally identifiable information that cannot be recorded and kept by California retailers as part of a credit card transaction, the California Supreme Court ruled. Under California law, it is illegal for a business to request “personal identification information” during a credit card transaction and keep it. Among the examples of […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
Amazon.com does not have to turn over information to North Carolina tax officials that would link individual users to the specific books and videos purchased online, a federal court ruled. The North Carolina Revenue Department made several requests to Amazon for information concerning online sales made to North Carolina residents so that the state could […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
Comments made by a condominium association president following a public meeting with a Chicago alderman is protected by the Illinois Citizen Participation Act. As a result, the defendant can recover attorneys’ fees under the Illinois anti-SLAPP statute even where the defamation case was dismissed because the underlying statement was not actionable. A condominium developer sued the […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
Hewlett-Packard Company has sued Mark Hurd, HP’s former chairman and president, for breach of contract and threatened misappropriation of trade secrets for taking the position of co-president of Oracle Corporation. The HP complaint seeks to enjoin Hurd from taking the position with Oracle, a competitor, “in which he will serve in a capacity that will make it […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
The Stolen Valor Act is unconstitutional because it imposes a criminal penalty for merely uttering a false statement of fact without anything more, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found In a 2-1 decision, the majority said, while Congress has an interest in preserving the integrity of honoring military men and women, the Act’s speech […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
The federal government infringed on the copyright of the person who designed the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C., when the postal service issued a stamp showing the memorial’s soldiers on a snowy day. Frank Gaylord, who designed and sculpted the 19 soldiers in the memorial called “The Column,” sued the United States over the stamp, […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
A former Bimbo Bakeries executive’s plan to go to work for a competitor turned into a recipe for an injunction. Chris Botticella, a former vice president of operations for California for Bimbo, decided to take a similar position with Interstate Brands Corporation, a predecessor company to Hostess Brands, Inc. His actions following the decision to […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
Electronic Arts, Inc.’s use of likenesses of former NCAA football players in NCAA Football are too close to the real athletes to be protected by the First Amendment, a California federal court found. A former NCAA quarterback brought a case against the NCAA and Electronic Arts (EA) alleging that, by incorporating his likeness into video […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
A Pennsylvania couple’s battle with Google’s street view function remains barely alive thanks to a U.S. Court of Appeals’ ruling that there was a technical trespass when the images were taken. Aaron and Christine Boring originally sued Google for various counts of invasion of privacy, unjust enrichment, and trespass. Google had taken images of the […]
