Balough
December 12, 2013
Blizzard Entertainment has frozen bnetd.org out of the Internet game war. The Eighth Circuit has affirmed a trial court decision that several programmers and the hosting site Internet Gateway violated both the terms of use agreement and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s anti-trafficking provisions. Blizzard Entertainment owns the copyright for several games including “StarCraft,” […]
Balough
December 11, 2013
A website with a similar domain name as Jerry Falwell that criticized the evangelist does not violate either the Lanham Act or the Anti-cybersquatting act, the Fourth Circuit has found. Jerry Falwell successfully obtained an injunction against the website www.fallwell.com under both the Lanham Act and the Consumers Protection and Anti-Cybersquatting Act. The site was […]
Balough
December 9, 2013
White buffalos cannot roam with Texas Longhorns, at least on the University’s email system. The Fifth Circuit upheld a decision denying an injunction to White Buffalo Ventures that sought to send commercial emails to University of Texas students. White Buffalo argues that the university could not block the emails because the action was contrary to […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
In the courts’ continuing struggle with email, the First Circuit has ruled that the federal Wiretap Act does prohibit viewing emails that are in temporary storage before they are delivered. Court have been struggling over whether “intercept” under the Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 801-804, makes illegal the reading of emails in temporary storage as […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
A company that places pop-up ads on your computer when you search for a competitor’s website is not using the competitor’s trademark, a federal appellate court ruled. 1-800-Contacts, Inc. sued WhenU.com for the company’s practice of placing pop-up ads of other contact lens companies on a computer when the user types in 1-800-Contacts. The trial […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
A company that falsely claimed to have scanned consumers’ computers and detected spyware when, in fact, no scanning occurred, has been barred from making such false claims in the future. Trustsoft, Inc., which does business as Swanksoft, SpyKiller and SpyKiller.com agreed to a preliminary injunction that bars the Texas company from engaging in deceptive advertising […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
A spammer who caused nearly $6 million in consumer injuries has agreed to pay $485,000 to the Federal Trade Commission to repay consumers, in return for which he will be able to keep his Florida estate valued at over $2.4 million. Creaghan A. Harry who did business as Hitech Marketing, Scientific Life Nutrition and Rejuvenation […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
It’s a hairy situation, but the Ninth Circuit has trimmed the ability of a hair replacement clinic to sue for trademark infringement. A dissatisfied customer of the Bosley Medical Institute, Inc. decided the best way to get even with what he felt was a bad restoration and replacement of his hair by the clinic was […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
There is no need to authenticate emails using the internet protocol address, an Illinois appellate court has ruled. To the court, emails are no different than reply letters. The ruling came in a criminal case where a 22 year-old was found guilty of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a 16 year-old. The court found that […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
Both the subject line and the content of the message will determine whether an electronic message is a commercial e-mail subject to regulation under the CAN-SPAM Act under rules adopted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC has issued its final regulations that determine how to determine the “primary purpose” of an electronic message. […]
