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
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
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
An online game player, who admits he became addicted to playing Lineage II, can continue his lawsuit against the game’s creator and distributor for defamation, negligence, gross negligence, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Craig Smallwood contends that the creator and distributor of the game were negligent in failing to inform players that the game […]
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 […]
Balough
December 15, 2013
Using multiple nonsensical domain names for commercial email advertisements to by-pass spam filters does not violate California’s anti-spam statute as long as the domain names actually exist.The California Supreme Court found because the domain names “actually exist and are technically accurate, literally correct, and fully traceable to Vonage’s marketing agents,” their use does not violate the state’s […]
