Be sure to check out the first InternetCases.com Podcast, available in MP3. This week’s podcast discusses the recent case of Dix v. ICT Group, discussed on this site, in which the forum selection clause in AOL’s terms of service was held unenforceable. A separate feed for this site is now available to add to your [...]
Archive for February, 2005
Web developer was only “puffing” when it represented the quality of its services
February 24th, 2005
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The First Circuit has upheld the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine’s determination that a web developer’s litany of self-laudatory statements to its client did not give rise to actionable misrepresentation. The client was sophisticated enough to distinguish mere “puffery” from real factual assertions about the web developer’s services and abilities. The case [...]
Application of “effects test” brings pool table manufacturer out from behind the personal jurisdiction 8-ball
February 22nd, 2005
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In the case of Brunswick Bowling & Billiards Corp. v. Pool Tables Plus, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois held that the listing of the defendant’s company name, address and email address on two websites did not give rise to personal jurisdiction under the “sliding scale” test. Application of the [...]
AOL does not get to choose where it can be sued
February 18th, 2005
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In a recent decision in the case of Dix v. ICT Group, Inc., reversing the lower court, the appellate court in the state of Washington held unenforceable a forum selection clause in AOL’s terms of service which stated that Virginia courts have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising in connection with the services. The plaintiffs [...]
Directing e-mail to residents of Texas gives rise to personal jurisdiction
February 18th, 2005
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The case of Middlebrook v. Anderson is a recent case coming to us from a federal court in Texas, and like the recent case of Bible & Gospel Trust v. Wyman discussed on this site, it addresses the issue of whether the court could properly exercise personal jurisdiction over an out of state defendant based [...]
Possibility that witness recordings would be uploaded to Internet no justification for withholding from press
February 18th, 2005
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In an order granting a journalist’s motion for the government to make available copies of tape recorded conversations that were introduced in a criminal trial, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York held that the likelihood of the tapes being broadcast over the Internet did not create significant or unique security [...]
Use of spyware doesn’t pay in Florida divorce proceeding
February 11th, 2005
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Evidence obtained through wife’s use of spyware on husband’s computer to obtain information about extramarital affair not admissible in divorce proceedings. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we have a romantic case coming from Florida that interprets a provision of that state’s Security of Communications Act. The case originated in divorce court, and the appellate [...]
KERACARE trademark diluted by registration of domain name KeraCare.com
February 11th, 2005
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The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois granted summary judgment in favor of a plaintiff who claimed that the defendant’s registration and use of fifteen domain names incorporating variations of plaintiff’s trademark KERACARE caused dilution of the mark. Plaintiff Avlon owns the incontestable trademark registration for the mark KeraCare for hair [...]
Webmaster not a “publisher” of defamatory comments made by third parties in users’ forum
February 11th, 2005
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Minnesota Federal court declines to exercise personal jurisdiction over Winnipeg website operator
February 4th, 2005
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In an action for defamation, copyright infringement and business interference, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota declined to exercise personal jurisdiction over a website operator based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, holding that Minnesota’s long arm statute precluded such exercise as to the defamation claim, and that the Zippo and “effects” tests did not [...]
