E-Commerce Law

Happy Memorial Day

Due to the Memorial Day holiday, we won't be posting E-Commerce Law Briefs this week.  E-Commerce Law Briefs will return on Friday, May 30, 2008.

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of May 12, 2008

We've changed the format for our weekly E-Commerce Law briefs.  Feel free to let us know what you think about the change.

• eBay says that it is not considering forcing U.S. users to use PayPal, its online payment system.  The company's PayPal-only plan for Australia had created concern among some users that it was a "test case" which would be rolled out to other countries over time.

• Social networking site MySpace.com announced that it won a $234 million spam judgment.  The case was brought under the CAN-SPAM Act against infamous spammers Sanford Wallace and Walter Rines.

• The RIAA has revealed how it tracks college file sharing.

• The Missouri woman whose alleged MySpace hoax lead to the suicide of a teenage girl has been indicted.  "Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis, who allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, was charged with conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else's computer."

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.

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of May 5, 2008

It looks like Microsoft won't be buying Yahoo afterall.

(Link:  Microsoft walks away from Yahoo deal at SilliconValley.com)

The six major Hollywood movie studios have won a $111 million judgment against TorrentSpy.com.  "The judgment, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, fined the operators of the Web site, Valence Media LLC, $30,000 per [copyright] violation for nearly 3,700 illegal movie and TV show downloads."

(Link:  Movie studios win $111 million judgment against file-sharing site 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.

E-Commerce Law Briefs: Week of April 28, 2008

MySpace has obtained a default judgment against "spam king" Sanford Wallace.  Wallace had failed to respond to written discovery or sit for a deposition.  "'It is...a defendant's responsibility to respond to discovery, obey court orders, and avoid dilatory tactics," the court wrote in its order. "Taking all of the above factors into account, a default is appropriate. The court finds that Wallace's noncompliance is due to willfulness, fault, or bad faith...Wallace has had every opportunity to avoid the sanction of default. (He) has never provided any explanation for his behavior to the court.'"

(Link:  MySpace wins suit against 'spam king' at CNET News)

A federal judge has rejected the RIAA's "making available" argument in its copyright infringement suit against a husband and wife.  "While the couple lacks legal representation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation said it filed an amicus brief on behalf of the couple . . . .  The EFF argued against the RIAA's "making available" position, saying in a statement that it 'amounts to suing someone for attempted distribution, something the Copyright Act has never recognized.'"

(Link:  Court rejects RIAA's 'making available' priacy argument at CNET News)

"Amazon.com has filed a lawsuit challenging New York State's new law forcing online retailers to collect sales tax on shipments to state residents."

(Link:  Amazon Sues Over State Law on Collection of Sales Tax at nytimes.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.