PhoneDog LLC filed a lawsuit last July against a now former employee, Noah Kravitz. PhoneDog, which reviews mobile devices, including phones and tablets, is claiming ownership of Kravitz’s Twitter followers. They claim he owes them $340,000 based on an assumed value of $2.50 per follower per month. The dispute arose…
On December 6, 2011 Zynga settled its copyright suits against Vostu USA Inc. and others. The first suit, case number 5:11-cv-02959, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California back in June, alleged that several of Vostu’s games infringed Zynga’s copyrights. Specifically, Zynga had alleged, that…
Facebook recently filed a Patent Application that Triggered a Congressional inquiry. The patent application, which describes technology for tracking users on other websites, resulted in a letter from Reps. Edward Markey, D- Mass., and Joe Barton, R-Texas, seeking information on its current privacy practices and future intentions for tracking user…
On September 30, 2011, a new set of digital marketing guidelines went into effect for distilled spirits companies in the United States and Europe. The self-imposed guidelines, detailed below, were developed jointly by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), the national trade association representing America’s leading…
The Supreme Court has validated the ability of software developers to prevent customers from owning the copy of software they acquire. Because software developers can limit the customers rights to a mere license, they can impose restrictions that can prevent the customer from reselling the software. This is a huge…
Given the great interest in “the cloud” from a business perspective, as well as Microsoft’s popularization of the concept with its “To the Cloud!” advertising campaign, it’s no wonder that many game providers are looking to the cloud as the next viable and profitable gaming platform. The cloud movement not…
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 512 provides many benefits to copyright holders. Add one more to the list. In Xcentric Ventures LLC v. Karsen Limited et al (2011), the court refused the let the Russian Defendant play hide-and-seek to avoid service of process and authorized the Plaintiff…
A great video by Socialnomics on where social media is and where its going.
Many people invest significant time, effort and in some cases real money to acquire virtual goods. There is great perceived value in these virtual goods. But there are a growing number of cases, where users have been the subject of hacking and other situations where they have had their virtual…
The Supreme Court of the United States issued a long-awaited decision in Brown v. EMA. The decision authored by Justice Scalia (in which Justices Kennedy, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagen joined and Alito and Roberts concurred) opined on the validity of California Assembly Bill 1179 (2005), Cal. Civ. Code Ann. §§1746-1746.5…