Tag Archives: facebook

Watch: Internet Takedowns and Domain Name Disputes for the Generalist In-House Counsel

As all aspects of business inexorably shift toward online, it is not surprising that intellectual property infringement, cybersquatting, and related internet abuses abound. Luckily, there are various procedures available by which aggrieved companies can seek relief short of litigation.

Joshua Jarvis, David Kluft and Anthony Rufo presented a webinar offering guidance for in-house counsel regarding internet takedowns and domain name disputes,… More

Watch: Social Media for the Generalist In-House Counsel

Joshua Jarvis and David Kluft recently presented a webinar offering guidance on social media issue spotting for in-house legal practitioners and executives, with a focus on intellectual property, publicity rights and advertising.

Social media platforms present countless and varied opportunities for companies looking to connect to consumers and clients in real time. But, like so much else in our connected age, these opportunities come with a host of risks ranging from minor public relations blips to unpleasant regulatory run-ins with government agencies,… More

Advertising Through Social Media: Ten Tips For FTC & NAD Compliance

social-media

This post first appeared in Law360 as “10 Considerations When Advertising On Social Media,” published on September 21, 2016.

Most modern advertising campaigns include social media components. In fact, it is not uncommon today to see products advertised exclusively on social media. For the most part, the same rules that govern traditional advertising also govern commercial speech on social media.… More

Implied Threat on Facebook Insufficient to Support Stalking Conviction

FacebookLast month, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) held that a Facebook profile may constitute a “threat” within the meaning of the Massachusetts stalking statute. However, a profile that is merely “vaguely ominous or disturbing,” as was the case in Commonwealth v. Walters, is insufficient to support a conviction.

Background

In 2006, Michael Walters and his girlfriend bought a house together in Seekonk,… More

Digilante Justice: Defamation By Camera Phone

swEarlier this month, a man in Melbourne, Australia decided to take his very first selfie next to a Darth Vader poster at a local shopping center. A nearby shopper mistakenly thought that the man was taking pictures of her young children. Convinced she had espied a pedophile, the mother snuck a cellphone shot of the man and uploaded it to Facebook, along with commentary labeling him a “creep” and implying that he might be a “registered sex offender.” When word of the post reached the man,… More

“Facebook Said I Could” Defense Fails to Justify Digital Millennium “Trademark” Notice

Crossfit picCrossFit, Inc., the fitness training company, licenses its trademarked name and goodwill to over eight thousand affiliates worldwide at $3,000 per year per affiliate. When non-affiliate Jenni Alvies began posting on Facebook about fitness under the name “Crossfit Mamas” (including selling exercise apparel bearing the same name), CrossFit felt Alvies was infringing its mark.

So CrossFit did what anyone would do in this day and age.… More

Copyright Claims Dismissed Against Facebook Movie and Book: Unoriginal Expression And Fragmentary Phrases Not Protected

Software entrepreneur Aaron Greenspan claims not only to have been the original inventor of Facebook. He also claims to have been the original author of the story of Facebook, via his memoire, Authoritas: One Student’s Harvard Admissions and the Founding of the Facebook Era.

However, yesterday Massachusetts Federal Magistrate Judge Robert Collings found that these claims were not sufficient to sustain a copyright lawsuit against Benjamin Mezrich,… More

Revenge Porn: “Is Anyone Up” on Copyright Law?

Here’s something you probably don’t want fixed in a tangible medium of expression: revenge porn.

Twenty-five-year-old Hunter Moore (pictured, above right) is the creator of the website Is Anyone Up (www.isanyoneup.com). In essence, here’s how revenge porn works: Remember those naked pictures you took of yourself and sent to a very close friend with the explicit instruction or implicit assumption that the images would remain private?… More

Teachbook Goes All In Against Facebook, But Fails to Obtain Early Dismissal

As mentioned in our prior blog entry, Facebook has sued Teachbook.com LLC in the Northern District of Illinois for infringement of the ubiquitous FACEBOOK mark, after losing a venue battle in the Northern District of California this past May.

Facing an astronomically larger opponent, Teachbook went for an aggressive strategy that has tempted many a defendant: to see if, despite the very high hurdle imposed by Rule 12,… More

Facebook’s Evil Twin: Lamebook

Lamebook, LLC operates a website, www.lamebook.com, at which people can submit amusing (or merely “lame”) messages and photos appearing on facebook.com – its tag line is “the funniest and lamest of facebook.” (Warning: some of the content is funny or lame mainly because it is off-color.) The editors screen the submissions and remove identifying information before displaying them on the site in various categories (such as “TypOHs”),… More