Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 19 May 2011
In what may represent a new wave in an interesting challenge to the viral nature of social media marketing, a recently filed putative class action asserts a right of publicity claim against Facebook in connection with the service's "Like" and "Friend Finder" features.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 14 Apr 2010
The inclusion of a character in a videogame that corresponded to a student athlete is actionable under the California right of publicity statute, a district court held.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 14 Apr 2010
The scope of the forum selection clause in the agreement applicable to the Google Adwords program extends to a plaintiff's dispute with Google over conduct predating the execution of the Adwords agreement, a district court ruled.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 14 Apr 2010
The California single publication rule bars an individual's common law and California statutory right of publicity and Lanham Act false endorsement claims for the sale of merchandise on a Web site, a district court ruled.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 14 Apr 2010
A party who made copies of music recordings and shared them with other parties on a peer-to-peer file-sharing network is not protected by the defense of fair use, a district court ruled.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 14 Apr 2010
A college student found liable for copyright infringement for making digital copies of copyrighted phonorecords and sharing them on a P2P file-sharing network is not entitled to the mitigation of statutory damages under Copyright Act § 504(c)(2) for innocent infringement, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 14 Apr 2010
The operator of a file-sharing network that utilized the BitTorrent file-sharing technology is secondarily liable for inducing copyright infringement by users of the network, a district court ruled.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 14 Apr 2010
A trademark owner's reports of infringing goods to an online auction's anti-infringement program were privileged under California law, a district court ruled.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 14 Apr 2010
Although DMCA 512(f) allows an award of "any damages" for wrongful removal of alleged infringing material as a result of misrepresentations to a service provider, such damages "must be proximately caused by the misrepresentation to the service provider and the service provider's reliance on the misrepresentation," a district court ruled.
Proskauer Rose LLP | USA | 14 Apr 2010
A domain name registrar that registered numerous infringing domain names, provided private registration services in conjunction with a related entity that concealed the identity of the registrants, and received fees when ads on sites connected to the infringing domain names were clicked, may be liable under the Lanham Act and the Anti-cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, a district court......