Balough
December 15, 2013
A newspaper crime reporter was lawfully terminated for making what the newspaper considered were inappropriate and offensive tweets. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that the Arizona Daily Star was justified in firing the reporter who ignored warnings from his editor and superiors to stop posting what they believed were inappropriate and offensive tweets. Postings on […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
Google does not have to produce information that might identify the author of an email that criticizes a Jamaican resort because the statements were made on the Internet, which is given less credence than other media, a New York appellate court found. Sandals Resorts International, which operates resorts in Jamaica, filed an action in New […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
To maintain a lawsuit in Illinois federal court against an Internet date matching service website, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the website targeted residents in Illinois. As a result, the Seventh Circuit appellate court dismissed a case because plaintiff failed to show that defendant targeted Illinois. be2 LLC and be2 Holding filed a trademark infringement lawsuit […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
The unauthorized disclosure of personal information via the Internet may be an “injury in fact” sufficient to maintain an action in federal court. A federal judge in California refused to dismiss a case where the plaintiff pled that his personally identifiable information (PII)–including his email address, password and logon credentials–were made available to hackers because […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
A short post on a listserv lacks creativity to be copyrighted, and even if it were creative, forwarding the post to others is fair use, a California federal court found. The listserv post was made by an attorney who was seeking information regarding a certified public accounting firm, which he believed had billed excessive hours […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
Creating fake Facebook pages for an advertising campaign can be a violation of the CAN-SPAM Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), a California Federal court found. MaxBounty, Inc., through a network of affiliates, creates fake Facebook pages intending to redirect unsuspecting Facebook users away from Facebook.com to third-party commercial sites. These third-party sites […]
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
A doctor in Texas with a website soliciting customers only in Houston can’t be sued in Illinois, but the Arizona-based GoDaddy Group, with a national advertising campaign, can. The Seventh Circuit explained the limits of personal jurisdiction in two recent cases, both involving the federal Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act. In the case of the doctor, […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
Toyota’s attempt to prevent two auto brokers from using “Lexus” as part of their domain name has come to a screeching halt at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ruled that an injunction against the auto brokers was too broad because it prohibited the brokers from using the term “Lexus” in its domain […]
