Tuesday, October 1, 2013, by Amelia Serrat On August 28, 2013, the Sixth Circuit affirmed that a Tennessee hotel’s claim against TripAdvisor for placing the hotel at the top of the site’s annual “Dirtiest Hotels” list is not actionable. Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee brought suit against TripAdvisor for defamation …
Tuesday, October 1, 2013, by Daniel Parisi A tornado of patent reform proposals are currently being considered in Congress which pose risks of premature action and dangerous infringement on traditional judicial authority. Congress should take its time and not get swept away. In a keynote speech on September 17, 2013, Honorable Federal Circuit Judge O’Malley …
Thursday, September 26, 2013, by Kelly Morris Last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals announced that “liking” a page on Facebook constitutes an expression of free speech and is entitled to constitutional protection. The case, Bland v. Roberts, arose out of an employment dispute. In 2009, Sheriff B.J. Roberts was up for reelection in …
Thursday, September 26, 2013, by Ryan Niland Regulators in New York announced a settlement this week with more than a dozen companies it accuses of posting false and misleading customer reviews online. The settlement, reported to be worth over $350,000, is the culmination of a yearlong investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office called …
Thursday, September 26, 2013, by Britton Lewis In recent months, Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware have legalized and begun regulating online gambling, although any attempt at reaching a federal consensus has stalled among the legislature. The legality and credibility of online gambling has been, at best, ambiguous since 2011 when the Department of Justice indicted …
Tuesday, September 24, 2013, by Timothy McKeever In March, a post on this blog reported on the story of Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed, who, at that time, had created a fully functional lower receiver for an AR-15 assault rifle using a 3-D printer. That article discussed the possible need for new regulation to address …
Tuesday, September 24, 2013, by Tony Lucas In a tweet, nearly two weeks ago, Twitter announced publicly that it had confidentially submitted IPO registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The tweet reignited a debate over the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, signed by the President Obama last April. However, Twitter is …
Thursday, September 19, 2013, by Christian Landreth Excitement surrounding the September 20, 2013 release of the iPhone 5s has been somewhat tempered by privacy concerns related to Apple’s new Touch ID technology. Touch ID is a security feature that “uses a laser cut sapphire crystal, together with the capacitive touch sensor, to take a high-resolution …
Thursday, September 19, 2013, by Gabriel Kussin The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that Google, the largest search tool on the internet, can be sued for violations of the U.S. Wiretap Act after inadvertently collecting information from unencrypted wireless networks from its Street View camera cars. In affirming the Northern District Court of …
Tuesday, September 17, 2013, by Stella Kreilkamp In late August, New Jersey governor Chris Christie signed a social media privacy law, which goes into effect December 1, 2013. New Jersey is the twelfth state to do so, along with Arkansas, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and Washington. Social media privacy …
