September 16, 2016
Argentina has a serious trafficking issue. And it’s not just drugs — but iPhones. Buenos Aires, the nation’s capital, is rife with stores sporting Apple signs and images of the late Steve Jobs. Walk into any of these unaffiliated shops, and you’ll find white walls covered with iPhone accessories. But to purchase an iPhone, you’ll…
September 15, 2016
Web sites can be accessed virtually everywhere. A frequent worry of website operators is that a court in some distant state will find that it has personal jurisdiction over them and force them to defend a suit far from home. While it often seems that courts are biased towards assuming jurisdiction over defendants, two recent…
September 14, 2016
Digital media law update: Plaintiffs who believe they have been wronged by acts committed by U.S. multinational corporations in foreign countries have long attempted to bring claims against such corporations in the U.S., and based on U.S. law. However, such plaintiffs face many hurdles. Some claims are dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction over the…
September 6, 2016
The FTC’s recent settlement against soft goods marketer Iconix Brand Group, Inc. shows the hazards of trying to skirt the hassles of compliance with the Childrens’ Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501-6506. If your website privacy policy disclaims an intent to collect information from kids and asks kids not to submit personal…
August 24, 2016
Internet gaming: On September 1, 2009, the 3rd Circuit handed down an opinion rejecting several facial challenges to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 (31 U.S.C. § 5361). This decision was on a suit brought by the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association – iMEGA — a gaming industry advocacy group. Interactive…
August 15, 2016
Employers seeking to discover what their employees are doing and writing on the internet will can find themselves out of the reach of federal wiretap laws (under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act [“ECPA”] and the Stored Communications Act [“SCA”]) so long as they limit their efforts to intercepting and accessing emails and web activity conducted…
August 3, 2016
A recent ruling shows how easy it can be for a company that markets its services via a website to find itself a defendant in a United States federal court. In a trademark infringement case brought over competing claims to the “LifeAlert” trademark, a federal judge ruled on December 29, 2008, that the Canadian defendant…
July 21, 2016
The Senate Judiciary Committee has rejected Attorney General Mukasey’s call to advance legislation undoing the Sentencing Commission’s reform of federal sentencing guidelines around crack cocaine, the Los Angeles Times reports. Not only that, the LAT notes that Senator Patrick Leahy actually had the political cojones to call the AG’s tactics what they really are: fear-mongering….
June 2, 2016
An article in the Dallas Morning News on teen steroid use caught my eye because of a quote from an athletic trainer who says: It’s easy for someone to cheat and win. With steroids, you’re tricking your body. You’re creating something that’s not you, and that’s why you’re cheating. It’s odd on the idea that…
May 10, 2016
Philip Morris will get another crack at reducing the punitive damages award in a long-running case brought by a cigarette smoker, as the Second District Court of Appeal found there had been improper rejection of the cigarette company’s proposed instruction on those damages. The case is Bullock v. Philip Morris, B164398. The original punitive damage…