A seller who authorizes a third-party telemarketer to market the seller’s goods or services may be held vicariously liable if the telemarketer violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Federal Communications Commission held in a May 9 declaratory ruling. The FCC’s ruling interprets two subsections of the TCPA. The first subsection — 47 U.S.C…. Continue Reading
Tag Archives: litigation
Michigan Court Rejects First Amendment Balancing Test for Online Anonymous Speech
Posted in Privacy & Data SecurityA Michigan appellate court ruled last week that state discovery rules provide adequate safeguards for anonymous online speech. The opinion is a significant deviation from the rulings of other state courts, which have applied a First Amendment balancing test to determine whether to grant discovery requests for the identities of anonymous online speakers. Thomas M…. Continue Reading
Supreme Court Clarifies Broad Geographic Reach of Copyright’s First-Sale Doctrine
Posted in Intellectual PropertyOn Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., resolving a long-simmering debate by holding that copyright’s first-sale doctrine applies to copyrighted works lawfully made anywhere in the world. The upshot is that someone who buys an authorized, foreign-made copy (Kirtsaeng involved a foreign version of a textbook)… Continue Reading
English Court Upholds a Copyright Sub-licence Despite the Termination of the Head Licence
Posted in Intellectual PropertyBy Morag Peberdy and Jacqueline Clover In a departure from the normal approach, the English High Court has found that in certain circumstances a copyright sub-licence may survive termination of the head licence. This was the Court’s holding in VLM Holdings Limited v Ravensworth Digital Services Limited [2013] EWHC 228 (Ch). Because of the specific… Continue Reading
SHIELD Act Seeks to Shift Litigation Costs in Patent Suits Brought by Non-Practicing Entities
Posted in Intellectual PropertyA bill has been introduced in Congress that would permit prevailing defendants in patent infringement suits to recover litigation costs and attorneys’ fees. The Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (“SHIELD”) Act was introduced on February 27 by Congressmen Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). The bill would provide for the award of… Continue Reading
Second Circuit Upholds Ruling in Favor of Ralph Lauren in Trademark Dispute
Posted in Intellectual PropertyThe United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled recently that the United States Polo Association (USPA) cannot use its “Double Horsemen” logo on men’s fragrances, affirming the district court’s finding of trademark infringement and entry of a permanent injunction in favor of PRL USA Holdings, Inc. (PRL). PRL is the owner and… Continue Reading
Federal Courts Increasingly Receptive to IP Geolocation Data; Copyright, Other Lawsuits Affected
Posted in Intellectual Property, TelecommunicationsA series of recent decisions suggests that federal courts increasingly are accepting evidence derived from Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation databases, which make it possible to look up the geographic location of a computer or other similarly-equipped electronic device. This development may be particularly significant in the area of copyright litigation, where alleged online infringers can… Continue Reading
Online Retailer Newegg Wins Major Victory in “Shopping Cart” Suit
Posted in Intellectual PropertyThe Federal Circuit issued a ruling last week vacating a Texas jury’s $2.5 million verdict against Newegg, Inc., and invalidating three “shopping cart” patents purportedly owned by Soverain Software, LLC. Soverain filed claims against major online and brick-and-mortar retailers for infringement of patents it holds based an e-commerce software system called “Transact,” which allows online… Continue Reading
9th Circuit Will Rehear Challenge to Law Barring Public Broadcasters from Airing Paid Political Ads
Posted in Broadcasting & CableA federal appeals court will rehear a case in which a split three-judge panel ruled it was unconstitutional to prohibit non-commercial broadcast stations from selling political advertisements. A federal statute, 47 U.S.C. § 399b, generally prohibits public broadcasters from airing “advertisements,” which the statute defines to include paid messages that (1) promote a for-profit entity’s… Continue Reading
A Mixed Decision for Fox in the Hopper Case
Posted in Broadcasting & Cable, Intellectual PropertyThe California court that is hearing Fox’s challenge concerning DISH’s Hopper set-top-boxes and related AutoHop feature has issued a decision denying Fox’s request for a preliminary injunction. The Hopper can be used to automatically record primetime programming from the four major broadcast television networks, and the AutoHop feature allows viewers to automatically skip the commercials… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Foreign-Made Textbooks Case
Posted in Intellectual PropertyThe Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., a case addressing whether textbooks — and other copyrighted works — made abroad can be imported and sold in the United States without the copyright holder’s permission. The Court’s decision will clarify to what extent § 109(a) of the Copyright… Continue Reading
Telemarketing Recap: Recent Key Developments at the FCC, FTC and in the Courts
Posted in Privacy & Data Security, Spectrum & Mobile, TelecommunicationsA number of key developments affecting telemarketing emerged over the past week: 1. The distinction between informational and telemarketing calls was further defined. The 9th Circuit held that calls intended to impart information about a customer rewards program could be construed as “dual purpose” calls subject to federal and state telemarketing restrictions. See Chesbro v…. Continue Reading
Netflix Settles Online Closed Captioning Litigation
Posted in Social MediaRecently, Netflix settled a lawsuit brought by the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) that alleged that its online closed captioning practices violated the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). As a part of the settlement, Netflix agreed to caption all of its “Watch Instantly” programming by September 30, 2014. Until then, Netflix will provide a… Continue Reading
Google and Publishers Reach Settlement in Book Digitization Case
Posted in Intellectual PropertyGoogle and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) announced on October 4 that they have entered into a settlement agreement in a seven-year dispute over the search company’s Google Books Library project. The project, which seeks to create a searchable digital archive of books from several major libraries around the world, has been the target of… Continue Reading
Second Circuit Stays Google Books Case Pending Class Certification Appeal
Posted in Intellectual PropertyA long-running copyright infringement action by the Authors Guild (a non-profit authors’ organization) against Google has been temporarily placed on pause. On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit granted Google’s unopposed motion for a stay pending its interlocutory appeal of class certification in The Authors Guild, Inc., et al. v. Google, Inc.,… Continue Reading
District Court: Google Books Case Will Proceed While Class Certification Is Appealed
Posted in Intellectual PropertyA copyright-infringement lawsuit challenging the Google Books service will proceed in a New York federal district court, even while an appeals court considers whether the suit can proceed as a class action. In an order filed Wednesday, Judge Denny Chin declined Google’s request to stay the district-court proceedings. Judge Chin granted class-action status to the… Continue Reading
Court Dismisses VPPA Suit Against Netflix
Posted in UncategorizedThe past few years have witnessed a series of attempts by plaintiffs to apply the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) — a statute passed in 1988 to protect against certain disclosures of video rental records — to the video distribution technologies of today. For example, in Sterk v. Redbox Automated Retail, plaintiffs sued the video… Continue Reading
Appeals court allows Google to challenge class certification in Google Books suit
Posted in Intellectual PropertyGoogle may appeal a New York federal district court’s decision to grant class-action status to a copyright-infringement lawsuit challenging the Google Books service, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday. The Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google, Inc., No. 12-2402 (2d Cir. Aug. 14, 2012). Google launched its Google Books Library Project… Continue Reading