Author Archives: rtushnet

IP norms and a bit on IRBs

Posted on July 29, 2014 by rtushnet

Via Jason Schultz in Jotwell, I learned of a great new paper by Julia Bauer et al. on community norms about copying and anticopying enforcement in the Threadless (crowdsourced T-shirt) community.  There are many interesting results, including the evidence they … Continue reading →

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Music you can’t get in a library

Posted on July 29, 2014 by rtushnet

Planning for musical obsolescence: How digital licensing is destroying our ability to preserve history. Excerpt: When one goes to the LA Philharmonic site about this recording of Symphonie Fantastique and tries to purchase it, one is directed to the iTunes … Continue reading →

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court says Lexmark doesn’t change trademark harm standard

Posted on July 28, 2014 by rtushnet

Reynolds Consumer Prods. Inc. v. Handi-Foil Corp., No. 1:13–CV–214, 2014 WL 3615853 (E.D. Va. July 18, 2014) A jury found Handi-Foil liable for willful infringement of Reynolds’ unregistered trade dress, but in favor of Handi-Foil on all other accounts (including … Continue reading →

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Yelp statements about its filters not protected by anti-SLAPP law or CDA

Posted on July 25, 2014 by rtushnet

Demetriades v. Yelp, Inc., 2014 WL 3661491, No. B247151 (Cal. Ct. App. July 24, 2014) Demetriades operates restaurants and sued Yelp under California’s UCL and FAL based on claims about the accuracy and efficacy of its “filter” of unreliable or … Continue reading →

Posted in 230, california, commercial speech, consumer protection, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post | Leave a comment

Transformative work of the day

Posted on July 25, 2014 by rtushnet

Pando.com publishes an entire issue of Reason magazine that’s not available in Reason’s online archives “for reasons that will become obvious”–it’s an entire special issue devoted to WWII “revisionism” and Holocaust denial.  Talk to me about fair use factor three! … Continue reading →

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Reading list: social media flagging

Posted on July 25, 2014 by rtushnet

Kate Crawford and Tarleton Gillespie, What is a flag for? Social media reporting tools and the vocabulary of complaint, 4 New Media Society (2014).  One of the points I most liked: [F]lags speak only in a narrow vocabulary of complaint. … Continue reading →

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FTC announces settlement with "official" ticket seller that wasn’t

Posted on July 24, 2014 by rtushnet

Details at the FTC’s site.  I was interested in this because usually the FTC leaves alone cases in which a business victim is a likely plaintiff; it makes sense to use government resources to go after defendants who otherwise would … Continue reading →

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Trademark exceptionalism wins another round in Maryland

Posted on July 24, 2014 by rtushnet

Hershey Co. v. Friends of Steve Hershey, 2014 WL 3571691, No. WDQ–14–1825 (D. Md. July 17, 2014) Thanks to prodding from Eric Goldman for me to blog about it, here’s a case where we learn that the only constraint on … Continue reading →

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Pom doesn’t change preclusion analysis for medical devices

Posted on July 23, 2014 by rtushnet

Catheter Connections, Inc. v. Ivera Medical Corp., 2014 WL 3536573, No. 2:14–CV–70 (D. Utah, July 17, 2014) The parties compete in the medical device market for infection-control devices.  At issue here are disinfectant caps incorporated into intravenous (IV) lines that … Continue reading →

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regulating TM owner’s confusing use of TM doesn’t violate First Amendment

Posted on July 23, 2014 by rtushnet

AEP Texas Comm. & Indus. Retail Ltd. P’ship v. Public Util. Comm’n, 2014 WL 3558763, No. 03–13–00358–CV, — S.W.3d – (Tex. Ct. App. July 17, 2014) A complicated regulatory background is the setting for this case about the evidence required … Continue reading →

Posted in commercial speech, first amendment, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, trademark | Leave a comment