E-Commerce Law: E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of February 5, 2007

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of February 5, 2007

Researchers say that "[m]ore children and teens are being exposed to online pornography, mostly by accidentally viewing sexually explicit Web sites while surfing the Internet. . . . Overall, 34 percent [of young people surveyed] had unwanted exposure to online pornography, including some children who had willingly viewed pornography in other instances. The 2005 number was up from 25 percent in a similar survey conducted in 1999 and 2000."

(Study: More kids exposed to online porn at CNN.com)

In a filesharing lawsuit filed by several record companies against an Oklahoma woman, the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma has ordered the plaintiffs to pay the reasonable attorneys’ fees incurred by the woman in the litigation. In partially granting the defendant’s fee application and ordering discovery into the reasonableness of the fees sought, the court opined that the record companies’ secondary copyright infringement claims were "untested and marginal."

(Capitol Records, Inc. v. Foster, Case No. Civ. 04-1569-W, Order entered February 6, 2007 at Electronic Frontier Foundation)

The Internet may be close to killing the newspaper. Arthur Sulzberger, owner, chairman and publisher of the New York Times "says the New York Times is on a journey that will conclude the day the company decides to stop printing the paper." According to Sulzberger, "I really don't know whether we'll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don't care either."

(NY Times publisher: Our goal is to manage the transition from print to internet at HAARETZ.com)

E-Commerce Law Briefs is a weekly feature appearing each Friday afternoon on E-Commerce Law. Each week, E-Commerce Law Briefs will provide a brief summary and commentary on recent legal news affecting e-commerce businesses.