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
If you are throwing away any records or an old computer with consumer personal information, you must now take reasonable steps to ensure that the information is deleted or destroyed. Under Federal Trade Commission rules effective June 1, 2005, any business that maintains or possess consumer information must take reasonable measures to prevent unauthorized access […]
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
Those ranchers who had a beef about paying the government for generic advertising promoting beef had their First Amendment claims butchered by the Supreme Court. In a 6-3 decision, the court said that promotions urging people to eat beef funded by a mandatory $1 a head tax on all cattle sold or imported into the […]
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
The Federal Communications Commission exceeded its authority when it issued rules requiring digital television receivers and other devices to contain technology that prohibited the redistribution of the broadcast. The technology is known as the broadcast flag. It is a digital code embedded in a DTV broadcast stream that prevents digital television reception equipment from redistributing […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
A crude and offensive letter from a prisoner to President Bush endorsing the actions of Bin Laden is protected speech, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The letter from a prison in the Oregon State Penitentiary contained the sentence “You Will Die too George W Bush real Soon They Promissed [sic] That you […]
Balough
December 7, 2013
A Georgia statute that criminalized telephone calls that were indecent, lewd, lascivious and filthy as well as obscene has been declared unconstitutional by that state’s supreme court. In McKenzie v. State, McKenzie was convicted of violating the statute for making a telephone call to a 14-year old girl while he was in prison. McKenzie was […]
