Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Considers Internet Service Provider’s Liability for Fake Profiles By Ezra Pinsky – Edited by Dmitriy Tishyevich Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., May 7, 2009, No. 05-36189. Slip Opinion On May 7th, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part a district court’s 12(b)(6) dismissal of a complaint which had sought to impose negligence liability on Yahoo for hosting a fraudulent personals profile created by the plaintiff’s ex-boyfriend, despite plaintiff’s ... Read More...

Content by Vera Ranieri Google Sued for Use of Trademarked Terms in Adwords Program A class action was filed against Google on May 11, 2009 in federal court in Texas challenging its use of trademarked terms in its adwords program. The New York Times covered the case and surrounding issues. Ars Technica analyzes Google’s new AdWords policy. ACLU Challenges Constitutionality of Gene Patents The ACLU filed suit in the Southern District of New York challenging the patenting of genes and genetic tests as ... Read More...

By Tyler Lacey Wiki Operator Seeks Right to Host Discussions About Circumvention of iPhone’s DRM System Wired reports that on April 27, BluWiki operator OdioWorks filed a declaratory judgment lawsuit against Apple in order to “clarify the rights of the parties.” Last November, Apple threatened OdioWorks with legal action over a thread discussing how to use unapproved software on both the iPod and iPhone. Apple claimed that the content was “designed to circumvent Apple’s FairPlay digital rights management system” in ... Read More...

First Circuit Bans Webcast in Trial Court By Debbie Rosenbaum* – Edited by Chris Kulawik In Re: Sony BMG Music Entertainment Et Al., April 16, 2009, No. 09-1090 Opinion On Thursday, April 16, The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, MA overturned a motion granted  by the district court which would have permitted the oral arguments in the case of Joel Tenenbaum vs. the Record Industry Association of America to be broadcast live over the ... Read More...

To Students’ Dismay, Plagiarism Detection Website Protected by “Fair Use” By Sharona Hakimi – Edited by Stephanie Weiner A.V. v. iParadigms, L.L.C., April 16, 2009, No. 08-1424 Opinion On April 16, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a summary judgment ruling by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, holding that archiving of student works by commercial plagiarism detection website TurnItIn.com is a “fair use” under the Copyright Act, and therefore does not ... Read More...