A North Dakota court has upheld a $3 million verdict against a Minnesota resident who published a website with defamatory statements about a North Dakota university professor. In response to the defendant’s jurisdiction argument, the appeals court held that she had “directly targeted North Dakota with her website.”
Internet and Technology Law
Poetic Justice?
Back in August I mentioned a new anti-spam tool called Habeas. This utility places a trademarked haiku poem into an e-mail header, which allows the e-mail to pass through spam filters unmolested. This week, Habeas filed suit against five entities that allegedly used the trademarked poem without permission. CNet has more on the lawsuits.…
Stalking simplified via the Internet
A New Hampshire court declined to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the family of a girl killed by a man obsessed with her, who was able to find her by obtaining information from an Internet data broker. Through the broker, the stalker was able to obtain the victim’s home address, work address, and Social Security…
The Google-opoly among us
Dahlia Lithwick of Slate Magazine discusses, in the context of the SearchKing lawsuit, how Google has become a monopoly in the Internet search world.
Good news for online court records?
In a case that could affect the future of placing court records online, the Santa Clara County, California Superior Court has agreed to hand over a copy of its electronic case management database to the San Jose Mercury News.
Tainting juries across the country
Wired reports on the Canadian judge who has banned foreign journalists from publishing certain details revealed in a murder trial, even on the Internet. There’s no question that geography can no longer be a sufficient barrier to prevent a jury pool from gaining access to information. I don’t see why the news organizations are…
How to spend your newly-saved dividend taxes
USA Today reports that lawmakers in Michigan are considering a bill to collect taxes on Internet purchases. The government giveth, and the government taketh away.
The year ahead in technology legislation
The 108th Congress went to work this week, and on the agenda are bills addressing copyright, spam, and privacy issues.
The dangers of too much knowledge
A few months ago I signed up for the Accurint service, and it is terrific — I can access background information on opposing parties, or my own clients. When I registered for the service, I was told that Accurint reserved the right to audit my records to make sure that I was using the service…
Another Internet jurisdiction case — this one gets it right (?)
Close on the heels of an Australian decision that an American defendant is subject to jurisdiction in an Australian court for allegedly defamatory content posted on the Internet, the Fourth Circuit has ruled that a Virginia prison warden cannot sue a Connecticut newspaper in Virginia for allegedly libelous content published on the Web. LawMeme has…