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Category Archives: IP

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Thinking About Using Pictures Pulled From Twitter? Think Again, New York Court Warns

By J. Alexander Lawrence and Jamie Kitano on Posted in Copyright, DMCA, IP, Litigation, Terms of Use

If you want to use those pictures you found on Twitter, beware. A federal judge in New York recently held that taking photos from Twitter to use for a commercial purpose infringes the photographer’s copyrights. On January 14, 2013, Judge Alison Nathan ruled that Agence France Presse (AFP), which provides subscribers with access to photos… Continue Reading

New Issue of the Socially Aware Newsletter Now Available

By John Delaney, Gabriel Meister and Aaron Rubin on Posted in Employment Law, FCC, FTC, IP, Litigation, Privacy, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Statistics, Terms of Use, Trademark

In the latest issue of Socially Aware, our Burton Award-winning guide to the law and business of social media, we look at recent First Amendment, intellectual property, labor and privacy law developments affecting corporate users of social media and the Internet. We also recap major events from 2012 that have had a substantial impact on… Continue Reading

Be Wary of Sharing: Anonymous P2P User’s Motion to Quash Subpoena Denied

By J. Alexander Lawrence and Matthew Galeotti on Posted in Copyright, IP, Litigation, Privacy, Trademark

BitTorrent, the peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing system that enables the quick downloading of large files, has sparked another novel controversy stemming from copyright-infringement claims brought against its users. Users take advantage of the BitTorrent sharing system to anonymously access popular media such as books and movies. That anonymity is unlikely to last long for users who… Continue Reading

Google AdWords Decision Highlights Contours of the CDA Section 230 Safe Harbor

By Jesse Soslow on Posted in IP, Litigation, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Trademark

In a string of cases against Google, approximately 20 separate plaintiffs have claimed that, through advertisements on its AdWords service, Google engaged in trademark infringement. These claims have been based on Google allowing its advertisers to use their competitors’ trademarks in Google-generated online advertisements. In a recent decision emerging from these cases, CYBERsitter v. Google,… Continue Reading

Born to Mock: Trademark Holder’s Fight to Remove Mark on Kitsch Merchandise May Have Broad Legal Implications

By Jacob Michael Kaufman on Posted in Copyright, DMCA, IP, Litigation, Trademark

Popular online marketplace CafePress.com suffered a legal setback recently when a U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York denied CafePress’s motion for summary judgment against claims of trademark infringement. CafePress operates an online “print on demand” service that allows users to upload designs which CafePress then prints on a variety of items…. Continue Reading

The Potential Perils of Posting Pictures (on Social Media)

By Timothy Denny Greene and Debbie Rosenbaum on Posted in Copyright, DMCA, IP, Litigation

In today’s information economy, content owners are faced with a challenging decision regarding digital content. On the one hand, the viral nature of social media can mean unprecedented exposure as digital content is shared. On the other, that opportunity can come with significant legal risk if companies take an insufficiently careful approach to intellectual property… Continue Reading

Caveat Emptor, Part II: A Brief Overview of Twitter’s Terms of Service and Related Documents

By Matthew R. King and Leo Martin on Posted in IP, Online Promotions, Privacy, Terms of Use

In our September 2010 issue of Socially Aware, we provided a brief overview of Facebook’s “Statement of Rights and Responsibilities,” the social media service’s complex set of terms and conditions that companies frequently “click-accept” with little review (often, in a rush to establish their Facebook presences).  Naturally, this situation is not limited to Facebook— for… Continue Reading

District Court Considers Value of Twitter Account

By Anelia V. Delcheva on Posted in Employment Law, IP, Terms of Use

“Man, what do I write here? And what’s it going to be valued at?” So read Noah Kravitz’s Twitter profile soon after Magistrate Judge Maria-Elena James of the Northern District of California denied Kravitz’s motion to dismiss a number of claims brought against him by his former employer related to the Twitter account. While Kravitz… Continue Reading