Legal Niches

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of July 14, 2008

Posted on July 21, 2008
Google has struck a deal to protect the personal data of millions of YouTube users. E-Commerce Law Briefs is a weekly feature appearing each Friday afternoon on E-Commerce Law. Each week, E-Commerce Law Briefs will provide a brief summary and commentary on recent legal news affecting e-commerce businesses.

Internet Evidence (Part III: Hearsay Exceptions)

Posted on July 16, 2008
Last Wednesday, we addressed the application of the Hearsay Rule to Internet content. This week, we discuss the application of some common hearsay objections. Common Hearsay Exceptions All of the hearsay exceptions applicable to traditional printed documents are applicable to Internet content, but there are two such exceptions which have...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of July 7, 2008

Posted on July 14, 2008
A judge has ordered YouTube to produce information "linking users of YouTube . . . with every clip they have watched there." AT&T and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit "have agreed to purge their Internet servers of Web sites that traffic child pornography...

Internet Evidence (Part II: Hearsay)

Posted on July 09, 2008
Last Wednesday, we addressed the application of Fed. R. Evid. 901 to Internet content. This week, we discuss the application of the Hearsay Rule to such evidence. Hearsay Hearsay is any "statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to...

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Blawg Review #167

Posted on July 07, 2008
The Blawg Review is a weekly review of the best law-related posts from a variety of blogs. We've had the pleasure of hosting the Blawg Review twice before (Blawg Review #103 and Blawg Review #140) and we're thrilled to be hosting Blawg Review #167. Since this edition of the Blawg...

Happy Independence Day!

Posted on July 04, 2008
Due to the Independence Day holiday, we won't be publishing our E-Commerce Law Briefs today. Our E-Commerce Law Briefs will return next Friday. In the meantime, don't forget that we will be hosting Blawg Review #167: 50 Stars of the Blawgosphere on Monday, July 7th.

Internet Evidence (Part I: Authentication)

Posted on July 02, 2008
Technology?s pervasive reach and society?s mounting dependence upon it has weighty implications for evidence jurisprudence. As individuals continue to use the Internet as a means of commerce, personal expression, and social interaction, the Internet has become an increasingly important source of information pertaining to those personal and business transactions...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of June 23, 2008

Posted on June 27, 2008
After resolving its dispute with the Drudge Retort, the Associated Press (AP) is working to develop guidelines for what it considers to be permissible use of its content by bloggers. The Drudge Retort is Rogers Cadenhead's takeoff of the Drudge Report...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of June 16, 2008

Posted on June 21, 2008
An arbitrator has ordered Media Breakaway and its CEO, Scott Richter, to pay MySpace $4.8 million in damages and $1.2 million in legal fees for spamming MySpace users. "The arbitrator in the case noted that Media Breakaway has made efforts to comply with the law, such as making affiliates sign...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of June 9, 2008

Posted on June 16, 2008
Finally, three of country's largest Internet service providers have agreed to block access to child pornography sites. The move was part of an agreement reached with the New York Attorney General. Google and Yahoo have reached an agreement by which Google would deliver ads next to some of Yahoo's search...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of June 2, 2008

Posted on June 09, 2008
Privacy groups complain that Google's privacy policy is not posted "conspicuously" enough to comply with California law. "The California law in question requires commercial Web sites that collect personal information about their users to conspicuously post its privacy policy on its Web site...

E-Commerce Law Will Host the Independence Day Edition of Blawg Review

Posted on June 06, 2008
We've hosted Blawg Review twice (Blawg Review #103 and Blawg Review #140) and enjoyed it so much that we asked to host this year's Independence Day edition, which will be posted on July 7, 2008. After considering a number of possible themes, we've settled on presenting a post enumerating "50...

Copying Another Website's Terms of Use Can Lead to Trouble

Posted on June 02, 2008
Public Knowledge has highlighted a number of instances (most notably, instances involving Twitter and Adobe) in which e-commerce companies have failed to undertake the analysis and thoughtful drafting required to develop customized Terms of Use and, instead, used generalized terms or simply "borrowed" the Terms of Use posted at another...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of May 26, 2008

Posted on June 01, 2008
Microsoft's new strategy for competing with Google includes attempting to close a search advertising deal with Yahoo and offering users cashback rewards. The "Live Search Cashback" service permits users of Microsoft's Live Search to purchase certain products online with a cash refund...

Happy Memorial Day

Posted on May 24, 2008
Due to the Memorial Day holiday, we won't be posting E-Commerce Law Briefs this week. E-Commerce Law Briefs will return on Friday, May 30, 2008.

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of May 5, 2008

Posted on May 12, 2008
It looks like Microsoft won't be buying Yahoo afterall. (Link: Microsoft walks away from Yahoo deal at SilliconValley.com) The six major Hollywood movie studios have won a $111 million judgment against TorrentSpy.com. "The judgment, filed Monday in U...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of April 28, 2008

Posted on May 04, 2008
MySpace has obtained a default judgment against "spam king" Sanford Wallace. Wallace had failed to respond to written discovery or sit for a deposition. "'It is...a defendant's responsibility to respond to discovery, obey court orders, and avoid dilatory tactics," the court wrote in its order...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of April 21, 2008

Posted on April 25, 2008
Apparantly, we're about to reach the end of the Internet. Accordingly to AT&T, the Internet's current network architecture will reach the limits of its capacity by 2010. (Link: AT&T: Internet to hit full capacity by 2010 at CNET News) Sixteen years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, "Web sites...

Defending a Criminal Case in a Cyber World

Posted on April 23, 2008
Last night, I had the pleasure of speaking at a dinner meeting of the Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys Association (MCDAA). The topic was "Defending a Criminal Case in a Cyber World" and I promised the group I would post the outline of my presentation here today...

Federal Court Upholds YouTube Terms of Use

Posted on April 20, 2008
On April 15, 2008, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed a lawsuit filed by a YouTube user in the wrong venue. In Bowen v. YouTube, Inc., 2008 WL 1757578 (W.D. Wash. 2008), the Court enforced YouTube's Terms of Use which require that all suits...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of April 14, 2008

Posted on April 18, 2008
The New York state legislature has passed a law which will require online retailers to collect sales tax on items shipped to New York. The so-called "Amazon Tax" might lead other states to enact similar measures, though some lawmakers believe such laws would not hold up in court...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of April 7, 2008

Posted on April 11, 2008
Early this week, stock market investors were emboldened by news of several potential corporate deals in the works. However, one of those potential deals is still very uncertain - Yahoo (YHOO) again rejected Microsoft's (MSFT) $44.6 billion bid to purchase the company...

Should Someone Tell Christian Roommates About the Ninth Circuit's Decision in Roommates.com?

Posted on April 08, 2008
While looking for the latest discussion of the recent Roommates.com decision, I came across Christian Roommates, a free website that purports to be "your online tool for finding a Christian Roommate in your area." Users can use the site to find "Christian" roommates or list housing for rent to other...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of March 31, 2008

Posted on April 04, 2008
Surprise, surprise: A recent article suggests that children are using social networking sites designed for adults. "Research into internet use has found that, among children with internet access, more than a quarter of eight to 11-year-olds claimed to have a profile page on a social networking website...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of March 31, 2008

Posted on April 04, 2008
Surprise, surprise: A recent article suggests that children are using social networking sites designed for adults. "Research into internet use has found that, among children with internet access, more than a quarter of eight to 11-year-olds claimed to have a profile page on a social networking website...

Ninth Circuit: Roommates.com Not Entirely Protected by Section 230

Posted on April 04, 2008
The Internet is buzzing with news of yesterday???s decision in Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates.com, ___ F.3d ___, 2008 WL 879293 (9th Cir. 2008). A number of commentators have posted summaries and analyses of the decision, so we will not duplicate their efforts here...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of March 24, 2008

Posted on March 31, 2008
"A security lapse made it possible for unwelcome strangers to peruse personal photos posted on Facebook's popular online hangout, circumventing a recent upgrade to the Web site's privacy controls." (Link: Technician bypasses security to view private Facebook photos at SilliconValley...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of March 17, 2008

Posted on March 21, 2008
We thought JuicyCampus might be the next Internet gossip site to suffer from unwanted legal scrutiny and it turns out we were right: New Jersey law enforcement officials have been investigating JuicyCampus for at least a month and claim that the site violates the state's Consumer Fraud Act...

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of February 18, 2008

Posted on February 22, 2008
Blu-Ray has beaten HD DVD in the lastest format war. (Link:  Blu-Ray Wins After HD DVD is Scuttled at washingtonpost.com) In a move that will certainly cause concern among priavy groups, Google will begin storing the medical records of between 1,500 and 10,000 people who "volunteered to an electronic transfer of their personal health records so they can be retrieved through Google's new service, which won't be open to the general public...

JuicyCampus May Be the Next Internet Defamation Battleground

Posted on February 19, 2008
Litigation over Internet defamation has grown as Internet users increasingly visit, and post to, unmoderated forums about their colleagues and acquaintances.  Following in the footsteps of sites like AutoAdmit, a new college gossip website has become a popular forum for anonymous and potentially damaging postings about students, professors, and others...

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