E-Commerce Law

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of July 23, 2007

There is no doubt that MySpace needs to focus on security measures designed to protect younger users. The Web’s most popular social networking site is the Internet home to 29,000 sex offenders.

(Link: NC AG: MySpace finds 29,000 sex offenders on its site, 4 times the figure previously disclosed at SilliconValley.com)

The owners of a rival social networking site have sued Facebook, claiming that Facebook’s founder stole their idea. "The three founders of ConnectU say [Facebook founder] Mark Zuckerberg agreed to finish computer code for their site, but repeatedly stalled and eventually created Facebook using their ideas."

(Link: Rival seeks to shut down Facebook, claiming founder stole idea at SilliconValley.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.

Technorati Tags:  MySpace, Facebook, ConnectU, social networking

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Weeks of July 9, 2007 and July 16, 2007

Though it may not be authoritative enough to cite in school or in court, Wikipedia is increasingly relied upon by the average Internet user. According to NetRatings, Wikipedia has added 20 million unique visitors this year and is now the Internet’s top news and information resource.

(Link: Wikipedia tops net ratings at AustralianIT)

With the increasing importance of online video, the number of page views to a particular website is becoming a much less meaningful measure of website popularity. Thus, NetRatings has announced that it will stop ranking sites by page views but will instead measure how long visitors spend on those websites.

(Link: Web Rankings to Focus on Time Spent at Sites at The Wall Street Journal Online (subscription required to view full article))

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.

Technorati Tags:  Wikipedia, NetRatings

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of July 2, 2007

Increasingly, Internet businesses are taking market share away from their brick and mortar rivals. Last week, it was reported that iTunes has become one of the top three music retailers in the United States. Now, two of the top five music retailers (iTunes and Amazon) in the United States are e-commerce businesses.

(Link: Apple's iTunes was 3rd biggest music retailer by units sold in 1Q at SilliconValley.com)

A New Jersey federal judge has ruled that participation in fantasy sports leagues does not constitute illegal gambling. The judge ruled that "[as] a matter of law, the entry fees for Defendants' fantasy sports leagues are not 'bets' or 'wagers' because (1) the entry fees are paid unconditionally; (2) the prizes offered to fantasy sports contestants are for amounts certain and are guaranteed to be awarded; and (3) Defendants do not compete for the prizes."

(Link: Judge: Fantasy Leagues Not Gambling at the Hollywood Reporter, Esq.)

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.

Technorati Tags:  iTunes, fantasy sports, gambling

Happy Independence Day!

Obviously, we didn't publish our E-Commerce Law Briefs for the week of June 25, 2007, so those stories will be included in this Friday's edition.