Balough
November 1, 2017
(November 1, 2017) A United Kingdom company sending a single newsletter to a small number of recipients in California where the company has no customers is not sufficient to maintain a copyright infringement lawsuit in the United States. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the case brought by Axion Foods, Inc. and Growing Naturals, […]
Balough
October 20, 2017
(October 20, 2017) Cheryl Dancey Balough has been appointed chair of the Cyberspace Law Committee of the ABA Business Law Section. The committee provides a forum for the analysis of corporate, transactional, and regulatory issues related to the internet and digital technologies. The committee’s areas of expertise include privacy, information security, cybersecurity, e-commerce, mobile/telecommunications, digital […]
Balough
August 25, 2017
(August 25, 2017) A settlement giving the class attorneys $525,000 without giving customers any meaningful benefits was thrown out by the Seventh Circuit, which found class never should have been certified because the case sought only worthless benefits to class members. The opinion aptly described this case by comparing it to another, finding, “A class […]
Balough
August 24, 2017
(August 24, 2017) A lawsuit to enjoin Zillow.com from publishing “Zestimates” on home values has been dismissed because the price estimate is not an official appraisal, does not invade the homeowner’s privacy rights, and is not deceptive. The plaintiffs filed a class action against Zillow, Inc. after the company’s “Zestimates” reported values that plaintiffs believed were […]
Balough
August 17, 2017
(August 17, 2017) Spokeo.com’s publishing of an inaccurate credit report online is sufficient concrete harm to support a claim under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”). The ruling by the Ninth Circuit means that Thomas Robins may pursue his case against Spokeo, Inc. under the FCRA. The trial court originally dismissed his claim for lack […]
Balough
August 11, 2017
(August 11, 2017) Facebook did not violate a country-rap singer’s right of publicity by allowing third parties to place ads on pages that contained critical comments about the singer. Country rap artist Mikel Knight, whose real name is Jason Cross, sued Facebook alleging six causes of action. Three of the causes of action were dismissed […]
Balough
June 20, 2017
(June 20, 2017) The United States Supreme Court has found that the Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) prohibition against registering trademarks that may disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute any persons is unconstitutional. The PTO denied registration for “The Slants” by a rock group comprised of Asians. The trademark was rejected by the PTO […]
Balough
June 8, 2017
(June 8, 2017) Placing copyrighted materials on a website does not justify an inference that an alleged infringer accessed the materials, especially when the materials are not strikingly similar, the Seventh Circuit found. The case involved whether a homebuilder infringed copyrighted home plans. The appellate court said the home-plan field was “crowded,” making it difficult […]
Balough
June 8, 2017
(May 11, 2017) As autonomous and driverless vehicles take to the roads, drivers, car manufactures, programmers, and insurance companies will face new legal challenges, said Richard C. Balough in a presentation at the 2017 Intellectual Property Litigation Seminar sponsored by DRI. “Because today’s and tomorrow’s cars are computers that happen to move physically on the roadway, […]
Balough
May 18, 2017
(May 18, 2017) Even though the public may use “google” in a generic sense with regards to internet search engines, that fact alone does not suffice to cancel Google’s trademarks. The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Google against a party who argued that Google was viewed by the public as generic, thus no longer […]
