Best Business Practices Audio Conference Next Month

Best Practices for Businesses Exploring, Exploiting, and Expanding in Web 2.0
Upcoming Interactive Audio Conference
January 15, 2008 | 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
This audiocast, co-sponsored by Pike & Fischer and the ABA's Section of Science and Technology Law, will be a first-of-its-kind opportunity for attorneys and business leaders to gain practical guidance from industry professionals on how best to harness the power of Web 2.0 while mitigating legal risks.  Businesses seeking to maximize profits through blogging, customer-generated content, social networking, web marketing, and other next-gen apps need to know how to avoid the pitfalls and potholes embedded in the Web 2.0 landscape. Join ABA Section Task Force Chairman Stephen Hollman, along with Santa Clara Law School's Eric Goldman, EFF's Fred von Lohmann, VantagePoint's Duncan Davidson, and Viacom's Betty Panarella and Annemarie Bray for this interactive audio event. Register your entire staff for one low price to secure actionable insight and take-away recommendations.

Latest News 
 
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
 
Web Site Featuring Unoriginal Features, Fonts Eligible for Copyright Only as Collection 
 
Ordinary features and fonts used to market ghoulish photos online were not in and of themselves copyright-eligible, but the entire web site may be protected as a unique collection of elements, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California held Nov. 20.  The court took judicial notice of a copyright registration for the web site's name, but declined to extend that notice to the elements.  It ultimately deemed the site as a whole a copyrightable collection, but said that the individual components were not independently copyright-worthy.  Allen v. Ghoulish Gallery, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3071.  Subscribers read more ...

Other Intellectual Property news:
 
·  Famousness of Spam Mark for Canned Meat Does Not Preclude Generic Use for E-mail
·  Review Denied in DMCA Immunity Provision Case
·  Chinese Web Site Sued by U.S. Studios Says Online Film Copies Were Obtained Legally
·  House Bill Makes Sweeping Changes to IP Enforcement Laws, Creates New Agency
·  Plaintiff Fails to Demonstrate Substantial Similarity Between Web Sites:  No Injunction
·  Creative Commons Dismissed from Flickr Photo Case
 
Subscribers may search ILR's Intellectual Property database

INTERNET COMMERCE 
 
FTC Consumer Protection Director Warns Marketers to Use Caution with Text Ads 
 
Businesses implementing mobile marketing strategies entailing the use of text message ads can do so without federal oversight unless or until consumers call for regulation of the practice, Lydia Parnes, the director of the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Protection, said Dec. 6.  Parnes, speaking at an event sponsored by the Direct Marketing Association, said that mobile marketers sending the text message ads should learn from prior telemarketing mistakes that led to a market "tipping point" advertisers failed to recognize until it was too late to prevent federal do-not-call legislation.  Subscribers read more ...
 
Other Internet Commerce news: 
 
·  Domain Names Held 'Property' Subject to Levy to Pay Judgment Against Registrant
·  FTC Alleges Adult-Oriented Online Marketer Bombards Consumers with Graphic Pop-Ups
·  Electronic Payments Eclipse Check Use; Debit Card Usage Surpasses Credit Cards
·  Antitrust Claims in P2P Suit Dismissed for Lack of Standing, Factual Deficiencies
·  Businesses Advised to Diversify Content, Tactics to Keep Up with Changing Web
·  Domain 'Front Running' Is Not a True Threat, UK Registry Says
 
Subscribers may search ILR's Internet Commerce database

FREEDOM OF SPEECH
 
Claims of Harm from Filtering Duties Under Utah Porn Law Too Speculative for Standing 
 
Internet service providers lack standing to challenge a Utah statute requiring them to institute technological measures to prevent minors from accessing indecent material online, the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah held Nov. 29.  The court said that the ISPs' alleged burdens under the law were too speculative to support First Amendment and Commerce Clause challenges to Utah's Harmful to Minors Act, Utah Code Ann. §76-10-1206 (2007)—a 2005 law that required ISPs to block minors' access to indecent material and to refrain from inducing an end-user to receive online pornography.  The King's English, Inc. v. Shurtleff, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3065.  Subscribers read more ...
 
Other Freedom of Speech news: 
 
·  Limitations Period for Net Libel Begins When Claim Accrues, Not When Speaker Is Found
·  Child Online Protection Better Served by Cooperation Than Regulation, Panel Says
 
Subscribers may search ILR's Freedom of Speech database 

TELECOMMUNICATIONS 
 
Verizon Forbearance Upheld, Court Finds No Action to Review 
 
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Dec. 7 denied Sprint Nextel's challenge of a forbearance petition filed by Verizon that went into effect automatically after regulators deadlocked on a vote.  Verizon had filed a petition for forbearance on Dec. 20, 2004, requesting that the commission forbear from applying Title II common carrier requirements or Computer Inquiry rules to any of its broadband services.  Sprint Nextel Corp. v. Federal Communications Commission, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3207.  Subscribers read more ...
 
Other Telecommunications news: 
 
·  Proposed Telecom Reform Has Privacy, Data Security, Breach Notice Provisions
 
Subscribers may search ILR's Telecommunications database

PRIVACY & SECURITY 
 
Ask.com Changes Privacy Policy; Search Histories Can Be Erased Within Hours 
 
Effective Dec. 11, Ask.com users in the United States and United Kingdom can completely delete search query history and data from Ask.com servers within hours of a search, the company said.  Users of the web site can enable "AskEraser," which deletes such information as Internet protocol address, user identification, and session ID cookies and the complete text of a search query.  Ask.com, an Oakland, Calif.-based search engine, already deletes information after 18 months.  It announced July 19 that it would offer AskEraser.  Subscribers read more ...
 
Other Privacy & Security news: 
 
·  Ninth Circuit: Circumstantial Evidence May Prove Proximate Harm from Data Breach
·  Senate Judiciary Postpones Action on Specter Telecom Liability Measure
·  New Rules in Thailand Aim to Bar Access to Data of Child Online Users
·  Commerce to Test APEC Privacy Compliance Using a Registry Similar to EU Safe Harbor
·  Oregon Trial Court Dismisses Class Action Against Hospital Whose Records Were Stolen
·  Texas AG Files Lawsuits Against Two Children's Web Sites Under COPPA
·  U.S. E-Discovery Rules Changes Drive Safe Harbor Registrations
 
Subscribers may search ILR's Privacy & Security database 

TAXATION
 
Officials, Some Stakeholders Push Measure for Mandatory State Sales Tax Collection 
 
State officials and some stakeholders Dec. 6 pressed Congress to enact legislation (H.R. 3396) that would enable states to require retailers to collect simplified state sales taxes on remote purchases, such as those made over the Internet, even in states where the retailers do not have a physical presence.  Officials, stakeholders, and Democratic lawmakers argued in support of the Sales Tax Fairness and Simplification Act at a hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.  Subscribers read more ...

Subscribers may search ILR's Taxation database 

JURISDICTION & PROCEDURE 
 
Web Post Targeting State Audience Satisfies Personal Jurisdiction Requirements in State 
 
An individual who posted comments on a Texas historical web site about a Texas historian could be sued over the comments in Texas, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas held Nov. 5.  McVea filed a defamation suit against Crisp based on comments Crisp posted on a Texas-oriented web site.  Crisp argued that the Texas court lacked personal jurisdiction because his only contacts with the state were three messages he posted on the web site.  Judge Xavier Rodriguez held that the court had jurisdiction over Crisp because his messages were aimed at McVea, whom he knew resided in Texas, and were posted on a web site targeting Texas residents.  McVea v. Crisp, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3075.  Subscribers read more ...
 
Other Jurisdiction & Procedure news: 
 
·  Mailed Libel Jurisdiction Standard Distinguished from Web Jurisdiction Test
 
Subscribers may search ILR's Jurisdiction & Procedure database

Latest Cases 
 
·  Allen v. Ghoulish Gallery, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3071 [SD Cal] (Plaintiff failed to carry burden of proof that he had copyright in individual components of web site; as to the web site as a whole, defendant did not infringe)
·  Arista Records LLC v. Lime Group LLC, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3201 [SD NY] (Antitrust claims in P2P suit dismissed for lack of standing, factual deficiencies)
·  Bio-Safe One, Inc. v. Hawks, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3079 [SD NY] (Court does not grant preliminary injunction on a copyright claim when plaintiff fails to demonstrate substantial similarity between web sites)
·  Bradley v. Conner, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3067 [WD Pa] (Limitations period for net libel begins when claim accrues, not when speaker is found)
·  CNET Networks, Inc. v. Etilize, Inc., 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3083 [ND Cal] (Defendant did not infringe patent, which claims methods and systems for automatically creating an electronic catalog of product information gathered from various web sites, because neither it nor its customers "use" the claimed systems "within the United States" as required under section 271(a))
·  Federal Trade Commission v. Various, Inc. (Stipulated Final Order), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3205 [ND Cal] (FTC alleges adult-oriented online marketer bombards consumers with graphic pop-ups)
·  Gibson v. Providence Health System-Oregon, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3073 [Ore Cir Ct] (Oregon trial court dismisses class action against hospital whose records were stolen)
·  Hormel Foods Corp. v. Spam Arrest, LLC, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3051 [TTAB] (Famousness of spam mark for canned meat does not preclude generic use for e-mail)
·  King's English, Inc. v. Shurtleff, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3065 [D Utah] (Claims of harm from filtering duties under Utah porn law too speculative for standing)
·  McVea v. Crisp, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3075 [WD Tex] (Applying effects test of Calder v. Jones, court had jurisdiction over author of alleged defamatory Internet postings)
·  Merry Maids, Inc. v. Mary's Maid to Order, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3081 [WIPO] (Domain name <marysmaids.com> is not confusingly similar to MERRY MAIDS trademark)
·  Office Depot, Inc. v. Zuccarini (Order Granting Motion to Stay Auction of Domain Names), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3069 [ND Cal] (Domain names held 'property' subject to levy to pay judgment against registrant)
·  Oxford Round Table, Inc. v. Mahone, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3077 [WD Ky] (Mailed libel jurisdiction standard distinguished from web jurisdiction test)
·  Sprint Nextel Corp. v. Federal Communications Commission, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3207 [DC Cir] (Verizon forbearance upheld, court finds no action to review)
·  Stollenwerk v. Tri-West Health Care Alliance, 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3085 [9th Cir] (Jury could reasonably draw inference of causal connection between theft of hard drives and incidents of identity fraud)
 
Subscribers may search ILR's Cases database

Latest Pleadings, Motions, & Briefs 
 
·  Capitol Records, Inc. v. Thomas (DOJ's Memorandum in Defense of the Constitutionality of the Statutory Damages Provision of the Copyright Act, 17 USC §504(c)), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3200 [D Minn] (DOJ argues in P2P case that the statutory damages provision of the Copyright Act, 17 USC §504(c), is constitutional)
·  Chang v. Virgin Mobile USA, LLC (Plaintiffs' Notice of Voluntary Dismissal Without Prejudice), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3030 [ND Tex] (Creative Commons dismissed from Flickr photo case)
·  Hollis v. Cunningham (Complaint), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3032 [SD Fla] (Defamation action against operator of DontDateHimGirl.com, a web site that permits women to make anonymous postings about men)
·  Klausner Technologies, Inc. v. Apple, Inc. (Complaint), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3202 [ED Tex] (Patent infringement suit against Apple, AT&T, Comcast, and others pertaining to voicemail patents)
·  Texas, State of v. Doll Palace Corp. (Complaint), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3026 [WD Tex] (Texas AG files lawsuit against children's web site under COPPA)
·  Texas, State of v. Future US, Inc. (Complaint), 2007 ILRWeb (P&F) 3028 [WD Tex] (Texas AG files lawsuit against children's web site under COPPA)
 
Subscribers may search ILR's Pleadings database 

Latest Research from Pike & Fischer

BitTorrent DNA - New
BitTorrent has begun licensing its file distribution technology to third-party content distributors under the service name BitTorrent DNA (Delivery Network Accelerator.) This allows the distributed downloading of broadband content via a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol. This Competitor Profile examines BitTorrent's strategy aimed at shedding its reputation as a popular tool for illegal sharing of proprietary content, and what challenges the company faces in communicating the value of its service.

High-speed Internet Packaging & Pricing Strategies: 4th Edition
This report provides a detailed and up-to-date analysis of the high-speed Internet pricing, bundling and marketing strategies of the top providers, including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Cablevision, Charter, Insight, Mediacom, Qwest, AT&T and Verizon. The report ranks each provider by maximum speeds provided and by price points, and includes 18 tables of data and analysis. It will also examine the impact that the emergence of telco fiber-optic services, mainly Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-vrse, are having on cable offerings and strategies.

View all Market Research Reports & Briefs

Events & Conferences 
 
Legal Risk Management in the Web 2.0 World - DVD Recordings Available
Over 120 business and legal professionals joined Pike & Fischer for this inaugural and groundbreaking legal forum where the growing array of legal risks associated with social networking, user-generated content (UGC) and other applications in the burgeoning Web 2.0 world were discussed and debated at length.   Attendees learned more about existing and potential Web 2.0 liabilities and how best to manage the risks of their organizations and those of their clients.  
Missed the event?  Order a DVD recording of select panels and keynotes.
Learn more    Order Now

View all Events & Conferences

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