Internet Law

Brooklyn Law School Won’t Turn In Illegal Downloaders After All

Updated: For a while, it appeared as if students at Brooklyn Law School who illegally downloaded copyrighted movies and TV shows could get some firsthand experience with the court system. Students received an ominous memo yesterday from chief information officer Phillip Allred, Above the Law reported. The memo warned that…

Oct 29, 2009 4:16 PM CDT

Some Entertainment Contracts Go Beyond Earthly Boundaries

Contract lawyers for entertainment companies are trying to cover all the bases with contracts that assert rights to revenue streams not only on Earth, but throughout the universe. Law professors differ on whether the contracts are overkill, the Wall Street Journal reports. University of Pennsylvania law school lecturer Ken Adams…

Oct 29, 2009 1:38 PM CDT

Chamber of Commerce Sues ‘Yes Men’ for Fake News Conference (See Video)

A group of pranksters called the Yes Men is facing a lawsuit for impersonating the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at a news conference. The chamber is suing the Yes Men for trademark infringement, unfair competition and false advertising, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Washington Wire blog. The suit (PDF…

Oct 27, 2009 2:32 PM CDT

Court Rules Anonymous Blogger Sued for Defamation May Be Unmasked

Corrected: A Tennessee judge has ruled that a husband and wife who operate a real estate business and a halfway house for recovering drug abusers may unmask an anonymous blogger who criticized them at his or her Stop Swartz blog. The blogger accused the couple, Donald and Terry Keller Swartz…

Oct 26, 2009 6:04 PM CDT

Two Yale Law Grads Settle Suit Against Once-Anonymous Online Critics

Two graduates of Yale Law School have settled their defamation lawsuit against several online critics who wrote nasty comments about them on the law school discussion board AutoAdmit. Lawyer Ashok Ramani of Keker & Van Nest in San Francisco represented the women pro bono. He told the Hartford Courant that…

Oct 22, 2009 12:23 PM CDT

Judge Tosses Sheriff’s Suit Against Craigslist Over Prostitution Ads

A federal judge in Chicago has tossed a sheriff’s lawsuit against Craigslist that claimed ads for prostitution posted on the website created a public nuisance. U.S. District Judge John Grady said Craigslist wasn’t legally responsible for the content, Bloomberg reports. Grady found that the company is protected by the Communications…

Oct 22, 2009 11:52 AM CDT

Ind. High Court Allows MySpace Entry as Evidence in Murder Trial

Saying that statements made on social networking sites are admissible as evidence of a defendant’s character, the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the conviction of a Northern Indiana man who beat his girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter to death in 2007. Ian Clark, a confessed drunken “stoner,” had appealed his conviction,…

Oct 16, 2009 4:59 PM CDT

Missouri Cracks Down on Cyberbullying, Detains Teen for Creating Website

The detention of a Missouri high school student accused of creating a website to bully another student, is the latest in an aggressive crackdown on cyberbullying. The student, reportedly a ninth grade girl, had already been disciplined, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Police became involved, however, after school authorities…

Oct 16, 2009 1:44 PM CDT

New Calif. Law Shields Witness Info From Web

California signed into a law this week legislation that will make it easier for officials to protect witnesses from gangs able to access witness information on the Web. The legislation, championed by San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, enables law enforcement to target individuals or companies that disclose phone numbers,…

Oct 16, 2009 11:01 AM CDT

Fugitive Partying in Cancun Arrested After Friending Former DOJ Official

A fugitive sought on bank fraud charges in Seattle was apparently partying and living it up in Cancun, until he made an online mistake: He friended a former Justice Department official on Facebook. Maxi Sopo is now in a Mexico City jail awaiting extradition to face charges that he and…

Oct 14, 2009 6:16 PM CDT

What Eliot Ness Was to Gangsters, PR Guy is to Athlete ID Thieves on Twitter

Brendan Wilhide’s increasing high-profile Twitter enforcement role doesn’t provide more than the satisfaction of a job well done. But the 26-year-old Connecticut public relations specialist is, in his spare time, the Eliot Ness of the social networking website, as far as imposters seeking to assume the personas of well-known athletes…

Oct 14, 2009 6:02 PM CDT

Did Court Order Ban Facebook ‘Poke’?

When Shannon Jackson was told she couldn’t contact another woman in Tennessee, she apparently may not have realized that the court order included a virtual “poke” on Facebook. Now she does. The 36-year-old woman has been arrested and charged with violating a Sumner County General Sessions Court protective order that…

Oct 13, 2009 10:49 PM CDT

Magistrate: Blogging Lawyer ‘Veered into Hyperbole,’ But Shouldn’t Be Sanctioned

A federal magistrate judge in New York says a blogging lawyer sometimes “veered into hyperbole and gratuitous attacks on the recording industry” but he doesn’t deserve to be sanctioned for his conduct. The lawyer, Ray Beckerman, filed motions broadly attacking the recording industry and then posted them on his blog,…

Oct 13, 2009 5:57 PM CDT

Wal-Mart Was Among Major Retailers Targeted in ‘05-‘06 Hack Attacks

Although it appears that no sensitive consumer data may have been stolen, Wal-Mart was among the major companies attacked by computer hackers in 2005 and 2006. Only a fortuitous server crash may have saved the giant retailer from joining the ranks of TJX, Dave & Buster’s and other companies, which…

Oct 13, 2009 4:48 PM CDT

Law Prof Appointed to Copyright Case Sees Parallels to Erin Brokovich

Ohio State University law professor Deborah Jones Merritt didn’t shy away from media interviews about her first Supreme Court argument. She told the Columbus Dispatch how she practiced before large photos of the nine justices. She confessed to The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times that she felt like “the…

Oct 8, 2009 2:33 PM CDT