Headlines - Technology

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Public Citizen and more than a dozen law professors have filed an amicus brief to dismiss the federal government's criminal case against a Missouri woman who used a false identity on a MySpace page to bully a teenager who ultimately committed suicide. Federal prosecutors contend that the woman, Lori Drew, created a MySpace account under the name "Josh Evans" and, using that false identity, developed an online relationship with Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl who later committed suicide.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and the National Federation of the Blind have negotiated a deal with Apple to make its online services iTunes and iTunes U fully accessible to the blind. Apple has reportedly agreed to make iTunes U, which provides educational content, fully accessible by the end of the year and to make the remaining iTunes and the iTunes Store accessible by June 30, 2009. The company also agreed to donate $250,000 to the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind.

Disagreement over the requirements of probable cause and the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule in Internet child pornography prosecutions continues to divide the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In

Facebook has hired a GOP insider as its new GC, surprising scores of Silicon Valley lawyers who'd been vying for the hottest in-house gig in town. The social networking site announced Monday that its legal department will be led by Theodore Ullyot, a Kirkland & Ellis partner who has worked in the Bush White House and the Gonzales Justice Department. In fact, Ullyot's policy background may be a big reason why Facebook chose him over more traditional Silicon Valley types.

A federal judge granted a new trial to a Minnesota woman convicted of pirating music files, ruling on Sept. 24 that he made an error in her trial. And he implored Congress to change copyright laws to prevent excessive awards against individuals in similar cases.

A lawsuit against popular matchmaking Web site eHarmony.com will come to a crossroad today in Los Angeles as both sides meet to argue over class certification. The suit against the Pasadena-based company alleges that the site violates the state's Unruh Civil Rights Act by failing to provide options for single people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual, because the site's main drop-down menu allows users to select only "man seeking a woman" or "woman seeking a man."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Citizen and two other organizations advocating free speech filed a joint friend-of-the-court brief urging a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Jones Day over what the law firm alleges was trademark infringement by a Web site that reported on real estate transactions by its attorneys.

Absent incontrovertible proof of causal relationship between exposure to video game violence and children's subsequent psychological dysfunction, state failed to meet evidentiary burden necessary to set aside permanent injunction against enforcement of statute barring minors from purchasing or renting games bearing "Mature" or "Adult Only" rating.

Pursuant to Communications Decency Act of 1996, online information system "craigslist" could not be treated as publisher or speaker of information provided by website's users; thus craigslist could not be liable for allegedly discriminatory real estate ads under Housing Act provision forbidding discrimination on account of race, religion, sex or family status when selling or renting housing (construing Communications Decency Act § 230(c)).

Physician who authorized controlled substance prescriptions for company that sold prescription drugs over Internet was subject to criminal sentencing enhancement for distributing controlled substances through mass-marketing by means of interactive computer service.

DULUTH, Minn. - On Sept. 24, a federal judge in a closely watched case pertaining to copyright infringement of digital music granted an accused downloader a new trial, expressing doubts over whether making songs available online constituted "distribution" under the Copyright Act and calling the previously awarded damages to the plaintiff record labels "unprecedented and oppressive" (Capitol Records Inc., et al. v. Jammie Thomas, No. 06-cv-1497, D. Minn.; See June 2008, Page 10). Full story on lexis.com

NEW YORK - In a 27-page amicus brief filed Sept. 26, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) set out to define the proper legal standards for application in secondary liability cases, warning the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that an erroneous definition will "chill legitimate innovation" (Arista Records LLC et al. v. Lime Wire LLC et al., No. 06CV5936, S.D. N.Y.). Full story on lexis.com

CINCINNATI - On Sept. 15, an Ohio man filed objections to a magistrate judge's recommendation that a group of record labels' copyright charges against him be voluntarily dismissed, seeking instead a final judgment granting his own dismissal motion and an award of attorney fees (Elektra Entertainment Group, et al. v. David Licata, No. 07-cv-569, S.D. Ohio). Full story on lexis.com

NEW YORK - A counterclaim seeking a declaration of copyright noninfringement serves no purpose because it is the mirror image of a plaintiff's copyright claim and would become nonjusticiable if the case were to be voluntarily dismissed, a federal judge held Aug. 19 (Maverick Recording Company et al. v. Fazlul Chowdhury, No. CV07cv200; Elektra Entertainment Group Inc. et al. v. Victor Torres, No. CV-07-640, E.D. N.Y.; 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63783.). Full story on lexis.com

LOS ANGELES - On Aug. 26, a special agent of the FBI's Cyber Crime Squad filed a criminal complaint for copyright infringement against a Los Angeles man suspected of posting nine previously unreleased songs by the rock band Guns N' Roses on his blog (United States of America v. Kevin Cogill a/k/a "Skwerl", No. 08-2089M, C.D. Calif.). Full story on lexis.com

SAN FRANCISCO - Allegations of copyright infringement by an adult video producer that Veoh Networks Inc. commits copyright infringement by displaying streaming video uploaded by its users were rejected Aug. 27 (Io Group Inc. v. Veoh Networks Inc., No. C06-3926, N.D. Calif.; 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65915.). Full story on lexis.com

NEW YORK - A single plaintiff who refused to settle with National Geographic Society in a decade-old copyright dispute over a CD-ROM edition of the print magazine saw his claim for punitive damages stricken Sept. 15 (Douglas Faulkner et al. v. National Geographic Society et al., No. 97-09361, S.D. N.Y.; 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69572; See January 2004, Page 4). Full story on lexis.com

RICHMOND, Va. - With the Aug. 28 filing of the appellee's reply brief in the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, briefing concluded in an appeal concerning students' intellectual property rights in term papers that they submitted to an anti-plagiarism Web site per their schools' requirements (A.V., et al. v. iParadigms LLC, No. 08-1424, 4th Cir.; See April 2008, Page 22). Full story on lexis.com

SALT LAKE CITY - Assertions by a defendant that a contract required it to commit criminal copyright infringement by copying third-party firmware/software and that, by refusing to do so, it cannot be held liable for breaching that contract, were rejected Sept. 15 (BC Technical Inc. v. Ensil International Corp., No. 2:02-CV-700, D. Utah.; 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69747). Full story on lexis.com

PORTLAND, Ore. - Calling a copyright dispute between two noncompetitors "somewhat of an unusual case," U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Coffin of the District of Oregon on Sept. 16 awarded a plaintiff $1,000 in statutory damages (Steven L. McNamara v. Universal Commercial Services Inc. and Sabine Sharp, No. 07-6079, D. Ore.; 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69961). Full story on lexis.com