Legal Threat

Chicago Developer Shovels Out Subpoenas by the Bucketful Over Wilson Yard Redevelopment

We are still trying to get to the bottom of this one, but it appears that a real estate developer in Chicago has subpoenaed information from four websites that have criticized efforts to redevelop Wilson Yard in downtown Chicago.  The redevelopment work is the subject of a lawsuit filed in Decembe

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Preliminary Thoughts on GateHouse Media v. New York Times Company

Like a storm coming over the horizon, the recent lawsuit filed by GateHouse Media against the New York Times Company, which operates Boston.com, has thrown the CMLP into disarray just as we were preparing to depart to warmer climes for the holidays.

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Blogger Pleads Guilty to Copyright Infringement for Leaking Songs from Guns N' Roses Album

Kevin Cogill, a blogger on Antiquiet, which provides "uncensored music reviews and interviews," pled guilty yesterday in federal court in Los Angeles to one count of misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement after he allegedly posted nine songs from the then unreleased Guns N' Roses album "Chi

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Mystery Blogger Caught Up in First Amendment Flap

On Monday, the blog-hosting service Blogger took down a blog called "Jeffrey Denner's ineffective assistance of counsel" after Jeffrey Denner notified Blogger that a Massachusetts court had issued a restraining order prohibiting one Derrick Gillenwater from using the words "Jeffrey" or "Denner" or "Jeffrey Denner&qu

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Colorado Man Charged With Criminal Libel For Comments on Craigslist

The Loveland Connection is reporting that a Colorado man has been charged with two counts of criminal libel after allegedly posting comments about a former girlfriend and her lawyer on Craigslist.com's "Rants and Raves" section:

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Two New Ripoff Report Cases Filed

Eric Goldman reminds us (here, here) that angry companies and individuals are still suing Xcentric Ventures, LLC and Ed Magedson left and right over reports submitted to Ripoff Report.  Ripoff Report is a website that allows users to post reports about individuals and companies that they believe have "ripped them off" or treated them unfair

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Schools Lack Authority to Punish Online Student Speech

One of the major issues facing schools is whether they have authority to discipline their students for speech on the Internet.  In an article I wrote that will appear in the December 2008 issue of the Florida Law Review, I argue that public secondary schools have virtually no authority under the First Amendment to punish students for online speech.  I decided to write this article after hearing about cases all over the country where

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YouTube Anti-Scientology Takedowns and Putbacks

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports on some good news, and bit of bad news, regarding the blizzard of DMCA takedown notices sent to YouTube on behalf of the Church of Scientology.

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New Insurance Program for Bloggers Offered by the Media Bloggers Association

Here is a simple, but often ignored, truth: if you publish online, whether it's a news article, blog post, podcast, video, or even a user comment, you open yourself up to potential legal liability.  It doesn't matter whether you are a professional journalist, hockey-mom, or an obscure blogger, if you post it, you'll need to be prepared for the legal consequences. 

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New York Lawyer Sues Law Blogger for Reporting on Malpractice Lawsuit

Brooklyn attorney Marina Tylo filed a lawsuit against Andrew Lavoott Bluestone of the New York Attorney Malpractice Blog last week.

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Dog Track Drops Lawsuit, Leaving Blogger Relieved But Rattled

The Arizona Star reports that the Tucson Greyhound Park has dropped its defamation lawsuit against blogger Karyn Zoldan of the End Tucson Greyhound Racing website and blog. Both parties agreed to dismissal of the suit, but Zoldan did not pay anything in return for the settlement.

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Blogger Arrested for Leaking Songs from Unreleased Guns N' Roses Album

Kevin Cogill, a blogger on Antiquiet, a site that provides "uncensored music reviews and interviews," was arrested yesterday at his home near Los Angeles on suspicion of violating federal copyright law after he allegedly posted nine songs from the unreleased -- and highly-anticipated -- Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy."

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Wisconsin Website Operator Files Lawsuit Over Frivolous Demand to Take Down Link to Local Police Department

I just updated one of the more frivolous entries in our legal threats database, which has now spurred a federal lawsuit.  While it is barely worth blogging about, I thought it might be valuable as a cautionary tale for those who believe sending cease-and-desist letters is a no-lose proposition.   

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Blogger Bullied Over Phrase "Branded Community"

Denise Howell at Lawgarithms points us in the direction of a recent legal threat that goes right to the intersection of trademark law and freedom of speech.

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California Developer Sues Homeowners for Libel Over Disparaging Blog Comments

Los Angeles real estate developer Barry Shy and his development company, 5th St Loft, have sued Jessica Jordan and Alan Dylan, who reside in a building developed by Shy and run the website Truedowntown, the "unofficial" site for the Shybary Grand Loft in Los Angeles.  The lawsuit, which plaintiffs filed on June 17, 2008, claims that Jordan and Dylan libeled Shy and damaged his businesses by making disparaging comments about him.

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Internet "Troll" Sued for Craigslist Sex Prank

A great New York Times article last weekend drew our attention to this rather colorful legal threat and its target, Jason Fortuny, a freelance web designer, programmer, and noted (or notorious) Internet troll. In 2006, Mr.

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Blogger and Maryland Police Chief Settle Defamation Lawsuit

Last week, Salisbury, Maryland Police Chief Allan Webster and Joe Albero, operator of the Salisbury News blog, reached a settlement in Webster's defamation and false light lawsuit, just hours before the case was scheduled for trial.

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