Which Way is Aereo Pointing? The Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Public Performance Copyright Case
- In a case that could have a broad impact on how companies deliver content to consumers, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on April 22 in American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. v. Aereo, Inc. (No. 13-461). At issue is whether Aereo’s service engages in public performances under... ›
- - First Amendment, DMCA, Privacy, topics/undefined, Copyright, Employment Law, Discovery, Litigation, Wearable Computers
Hot Off the Press: The April Issue of Our Socially Aware Newsletter Is Now Available
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The latest issue of our Socially Aware newsletter is now available here. In this issue of Socially Aware , our Burton Award -winning guide to the law and business of social media, we summarize the current status of various state laws restricting employer access... › Jerked Around? Did the FTC’s “Jerk.com” Complaint Just Turn API Terms Into Federal Law?
The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) announcement that it had filed a complaint against Jerk, LLC and its websites like “jerk.com” (“Jerk”) looks at first glance like a run-of-the-mill FTC Section 5 enforcement action involving allegedly deceptive practices online. But hidden in the facts of... ›The Umpire Strikes Back: European Court Rules That ISPs Can Be Forced to Block Pirate Websites
By: Alistair Maughan
On March 27, 2014, the highest court in the European Union—the Court of Justice for the European Union (CJEU)— decided that copyright owners have the right to seek injunctions against Internet service providers (ISPs) requiring the ISPs to block access to pirate websites illegally... ›U.S. Courts’ Evolving Approaches to Social Media E-Discovery
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
Courts across the United States have now made clear that discovery of social media is fair game. At the same time, courts have consistently found that litigants will not be permitted to engage in social media fishing expeditions; rather, litigants will be required to... ›Google Ordered to Remove All Copies of Anti-Islamic Film From YouTube After Actress With Bit Part Threatened by Outraged Muslims; Decision Puzzles Copyright Attorneys
By: J. Alexander Lawrence
An aspiring actress moves to California and finds her life threatened. While standard fare for pulp fiction, the case of Garcia v. Google involves a twist on this well-worn plot line that not even the most imaginative Hollywood scriptwriter could invent. Cindy Lee Garcia... ›German Court Rules Against Facebook’s “Friend Finder”
On January 24, 2014, in a case filed against Facebook by German consumer protection association VZBV , the Berlin Court of Appeal (“Court”) upheld a lower court ruling that Facebook’s “Friend Finder” function is unlawful. The Court agreed with the Berlin Regional Court’s 2012... ›You May Not Necessarily Be the Master of Your Domain
The ability to associate goods and services with a specific domain name can make or break a business, so much so that companies are still willing to fork over millions to purchase domain names. And although you may consider yourself lucky to have registered... ›Uncovering a Line in the Sand: Employee Social Media Use and the NLRA
By: Mary Race
If an employee calls his supervisor a “nasty motherf[**]ker” on Facebook, would the employee lose the protection that he would otherwise enjoy under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)? Probably not, according to National Labor Relations Board (NRLB) decisions like Pier Sixty LLC. In... ›Refining the First Amendment Status of Social Media Activity by Government Employees
By: Aaron P. Rubin
The Supreme Court’s 1968 decision in Pickering v. Board of Education allows governmental employers, including law enforcement agencies, to fire or discipline employees for disrupting operations with excessive complaining, but it prohibits governmental employers from firing or disciplining an employee for speaking out on... ›