From the category archives:

DMCA/CDA

File Under "Hell Hath No Fury" or, "If You're Protected By CDA 230, Don't Waive Your Protection"

May 8, 2009

Cicilia Barnes’ choice in men was worthy of a Darwin Award. After she broke up with her boyfriend, he created fake personal ads for her on Yahoo and impersonated her on online forums. As the Ninth Circuit described it in Barnes v. Yahoo: Barnes did not authorize her now former boyfriend to post the profiles,

Read the full article →

Boston Bar Association CLE: Hot Issues in Internet Law, CDA Section 230

May 2, 2009

We had a great CLE at the BBA on Wednesday evening. The lucky folks who attended received three hours of (almost) nonstop legal info, and we barely scratched the surface of the topics. I spoke on CDA Section 230, which has seen a great deal of activity lately, and there are no signs it’s slowing

Read the full article →

Judge Gants Holds StubHub Not Protected by CDA Section 230 (relying on Roommates.com Decision)

April 24, 2009

On January 26, 2009, in what may have been Judge Ralph Gants’ last opinion before departing Suffolk Superior Court for the Supreme Judicial Court on January 29, 2009, Judge Gants ruled on a number of issues in the New England Patriots lawsuit against StubHub.com. The claims are based on the fact that StubHub provides an

Read the full article →

The EFF "Unintended Consequences" White Paper Update Marks the Ten Year Anniversary of the DMCA

November 10, 2008

It’s easy to forget that the Digital Millennium Copyright Actis really two separate laws. One protects publishers from “inadvertent” copyright infringement by creating the “notice-and-takedown” regime that requires copyright owners to demand that publishers take down copyrighted works published by third parties before asserting infringement. The other part of the DMCA is the anti-circumvention rule

Read the full article →

New Hampshire Federal District Court Issues Comprehensive Ruling on Communications Decency Act

July 30, 2008

“[n]o provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. … [n]o cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section. . . .

Read the full article →

Recent Cases Under the Communications Decency Act

November 27, 2007

My partner Joe Laferrera recently wrote this article on the Communications Decency Act (CDA) which provides important legal protections to internet service providers. I have written often on this topic (see here, here and here) and Joe’s article discusses two recent cases applying this important law, one protecting a web site from liability, the other

Read the full article →

First Circuit Applies the CDA to Protect Lycos

June 20, 2007

I’ve written often about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which protects “interactive computer services” as follows: No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker or any information provided by another information content provider And – No provider or user of an interactive computer

Read the full article →

Viral Video, YouTube and Whack-a-Mole, or Why Mark Cuban is Wrong

October 19, 2006

I quote from News.com on September 28th: Cuban, co-founder of HDNet and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, also said YouTube would eventually be “sued into oblivion” because of copyright violations. “They are just breaking the law,” Cuban told a group of advertisers in New York. “The only reason it hasn’t been sued yet is

Read the full article →

Of iPods, Lock-Ins and the DMCA

August 15, 2006

As an ambivalent owner of an Apple iPod I’ve given a lot of thought to the fact that songs I download from Apple’s iTunes will not play on a portable device other than an Apple iPod. If I want to play my iTunes music collection on another manufacturer’s MP3 player, today or five years from

Read the full article →
Page 1 of 2
1
2