Court Excludes Litigation Fees from Calculation of Damages under DMCA § 512(f). By Debbie Rosenbaum – Edited by Gary Pong Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., Case No. 5:07-cv-03783-JF (N.D. Cal., Feb. 25, 2010) Slip Opinion (Hosted by the Citizen Media Law Project) On February 25, 2010, Judge Fogel for the Northern District of California held that a plaintiff suing over a wrongful Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) takedown notice can only recover for damages that were proximately caused by said ... Read More...

For in rem Jurisdiction, Ninth Circuit Holds That Domain Names Are Located Where the Registry is Located By Elizabeth Akerman – Edited by Gary Pong Office Depot, Inc. v. Zuccarini, Case No. 07-16788 (9th Cir., Feb. 26, 2010) Slip Opinion The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the decision by the District Court for the Northern District of California to grant DS Holdings’ motion to appoint a receiver to auction off Zuccarini’s domain names and use the ... Read More...

Supreme Court Issues a Stay to Prevent Broadcasting of Proposition 8 Case By Andrew Segna – Edited by Dmitriy Tishyevich Hollingsworth v. Perry (on application for stay), Case No. 09A648 (U.S., Jan. 13, 2010) Slip Opinion The Supreme Court granted a stay of the order issued by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California for a broadcast of the California lawsuit challenging Proposition 8, which amended the state constitution to define a valid marriage as only ... Read More...

Ninth Circuit Remands Cybersquatting Case By Debbie Rosenbaum – Edited by Amanda Rice Lahoti v. Vericheck Inc., No. 08-35001 (9th Cir., Nov. 16, 2009) Opinion On November 16th, the Ninth Circuit held that the district court’s finding that the mark “VeriCheck” was an inherently distinctive, legally protectable mark was based in part on erroneous legal reasoning and in part on valid reasoning. Accordingly, it vacated the lower court’s award of summary judgment in favor of the defendant and remanded. However, ... Read More...

Ninth Circuit Adopts National Obscenity Standard in Adult Website Spam Case By Ian B. Brooks – Edited by Alissa Del Riego United States v. Kilbride, No. 07-10528 (9th Cir. Oct. 28, 2009) Opinion The Ninth Circuit has affirmed the District Court for the District of Arizona, which had convicted and sentenced defendants Jeffery Kilbride and James Schaffer of transporting obscene materials for sale. The Ninth Circuit held that a national community standard “must be applied in regulating obscene speech on ... Read More...