Legal Threat

Palin Threatens to Sue Blogger for Publishing Rumors of Investigation, Ensures Rumors Will Get Wide Attention

Exercising one of the freedoms Americans celebrate on Independence Day -- the freedom to threaten an ill-conceived lawsuit -- Alaska Governor Sarah Palin directed her lawyer to publish an open letter to Shannyn Moore, an Alaska blogger, radio personality, Huffington Post contributor, and frequent guest on MSNBC, threatening to file a defam

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Drew (Tentatively) Acquitted in MySpace Suicide Case

A federal judge yesterday tentatively acquitted Lori Drew, the Missouri woman convicted for her involvement in a MySpace “cyberbullying” hoax that allegedly resulted in a young girl’s suicide.  If it sticks, the acquittal will help reverse the momentous change in online liability that Drew’s earlier guilty verdict threatened to set in motion.

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Liberte, Egalite, Technologie: The French Resistance and the Anti-Piracy Campaign

The music and motion picture industries suffered a setback in their global anti-piracy carpet-bombing campaign on June 10, when the French Conseil Constitutionnel struck down the internet-banning portions of the HADOPI law.

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On the Web, Everyone Can Hear You Sue...

Tony La Russa's lawsuit against Twitter, which we first published in the Legal Threats Database back on May 29, seems to have hit the mainstream over the past week. Following the path of the case through the Internet and into the mainstream media provides a fascinating case study in the the possibilities of Twitter and other social media platforms for disseminating and amplifying a message.

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South Carolina Attorney General Agrees to Temporary Restraining Order in Craigslist Suit

Today, a federal district court in South Carolina issued a consent order temporarily restraining South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster from "initiating or pursuing any prosecution against craigslist or its officers and employees in relation to content posted by third parties on craigslist's website." The order specifies that it is issued "by agreement of the parties.&qu

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Top Conservative on Twitter Takes Critic to Court

Shortly after the election last November, a call went out within the conservative blogosphere to use Twitter to organize conservatives online.  Not long thereafter, Michael Patrick Leahy and Rob Neppell started the website Top Conservatives on Twitter and pushed like-minded conservatives to use the Twitter hashtag #TCOT (the # allows twitterers to

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Craigslist Sues South Carolina AG Over Threats of Criminal Prosecution

Tired of being bullied by South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, craigslist is going on the offensive.  CEO Jim Buckmaster announced on the craigslist blog today that that craigslist is suing McMaster in South Carolina federal court, seeking "declaratory relief and a restraining order with respect to criminal charges he has repeatedly thre

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How to Make Your Client Look Bad, in Three Easy Steps

Courtesy of counsel for Newt Gingrich and Saul Anuzis.

1.  Demonstrate a complete failure to understand how the relevant technology works.

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Merrill Lynch to Financial Blogger: Don't Quote Our Bearish Reports

Felix Salmon of Reuters reports that the pseudonymous lead blogger behind the financial blog Zero Hedge received DMCA takedown notices for six posts that cited or excerpted from Merrill Lynch reports authored by Merrill's former chief economist, David Rosenberg.  According to Salmon, Zero Hedge is "an insider financial blog whose writers believe the worst of the mel

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Craigslist Dropping 'Erotic Services' Section, No Word On Whether State AGs Will Drop Their Bullhorns

The Associated Press is reporting that craigslist has decided to replace the "erotic services" section of its site with a new adult category that will be reviewed by craigslist staff (craigslist just issued a statement confirming the change).  The decision follows several months of pressure from officials in a number of states who have been trying to force the onlin

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Orlando Police Chief v. The First Amendment

There aren't too many elected officials in Flori-duh that I respect. Orlando Police Chief Val Demings, used to be one of the select few. She hasn't done a perfect job, and had a particularly embarrassing incident in which her gun was stolen. Nevertheless, my general impression of her has been that she is competent and ethical.

Not anymore.

Val Demings vs. the First Amendment

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Blogger Threatened Over Ballot Photo As 19th Century Laws Meet 21st Century Technology, Sensibility

As noted in the Documenting Your Vote section of CMLP's Legal Guide, several states have laws prohibiting voters from displaying their ballots to someone else.

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Restaurant Girl Parody Leads to Twitter Trademark Tussle

Celebrities and popular artists, like other public figures, face a tough road if they want to sue someone for making fun of them.  Many know that fair use places a high legal burden on authors and artists who bring copyright claims against those who parody them or their work.  Lesser known -- but equally important -- is that parodies receive strong protection against trademark<

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StubHub Unsuccesfully Invokes Section 230 Defense in Lawsuit by New England Patriots

Back in November 2006, the New England Patriots went on the offense and filed a lawsuit against StubHub Inc., one of the largest online ticket resellers, claiming that the company encourages fans to violate Massachusetts' anti-scalping laws and the team's prohibition against reselling tickets.  The lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, also named as defendants two local residents and 50 "John Does," who allegedly resold the

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Phoenix Police Raid Local Blogger Who Runs "Bad Phoenix Cops" Blog

Last month, Phoenix police raided the home of Jeff Pataky, a blogger who runs Bad Phoenix Cops, a blog that, not surprisingly, has been highly critical of the Phoenix Police Department.  According to The Arizona Republic, Pataky's home was raided by ten Phoenix police officers who handcuffed his girlfriend for three hours while they conducted the raid.  "We have heard internally from our police sour

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Woman Files Lawsuit Against Debt Collector Over Posting on MySpace

In what appears to be the first lawsuit related to debt collection activities on a social network, a Michigan woman is suing two debt collection agencies and their principals for violating the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for, among other things, posting information about her indebtedness on her MySpace page.  The laws

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Yes, You Should Have Hired a Trademark Attorney...

Another day, another cautionary tale about how staying at a Holiday Inn Express doesn’t qualify you to practice law.

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Cook County Sheriff Sues Craigslist for Creating a "Public Nuisance"

Last Thursday, Thomas Dart, the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois, filed a lawsuit against online classified site Craigslist, claiming that the site is a "public nuisance" because its users post ads in the "erotic services" category that facilitate prostitution.  Yes, you read that correctly.  The top law enforcement officer in Cook County is using a civil lawsuit to go after Craigslist because he believes users of the si

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UC Berkeley Website on Evolution Sued for Violating Establishment Clause

In celebration of the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth (you knew he was born on the same day in 1809 as Abraham Lincoln, right?), I bring you news of our first legal threat directed at an online publisher asserting that a website violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

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Pennsylvania Student Sent to Jail For Lampooning Assistant Principal on MySpace

The Associated Press is reporting that two Pennsylvania judges have been charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers.

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