E-Commerce Law

Identity of Anonymous Wikipedia Editors Not Protected by First Amendment

In Faconnable USA Corporation v. John Does 1-10, 2011 WL 2015515 (D. Colo. May 24, 2011), the United States District Court for the District of Colorado rejected a ISP's motion to quash a subpoena issued to discover the identity of anonymous editors of Wikipedia.  Plaintiff alleges that the anonymous editors violated the Lanham Act and comitted trade libel and commercial disparaging by falsely posting that plaintiff is a support of Hezbollah, a Shiite Islamist militia and political party which has been designated as a terrorist organization.

Former ConnectU Partner Sues Over Facebook Settlement

Wayne Chang, a former partner in ConnectU, Facebook's social networking rival, brought suit against his former ConnectU partners (the "Winklevoss Defendants") and their attorneys over a settlement reached with Facebook in a separate litigation.  Chang v. Winklevoss, No. 09-5397-BLS1, 2011 WL 1758963 (Super. Ct. Mass. May 3, 2011).  After the defendants filed motions to dismiss, the Superior Court of Massachusetts held that Chang lacked standing to assert claims against the attorneys, but found that Chang's complaint sufficiently alleged subject matter jurisdiction and state law claims.

Identity of Anonymous Online Speakers Shielded by First Amendment

On May 9, 2011, the United States District for the District of Utah granted Defendants' Motion to Quash Subpoenas, Issue Protective Order, and Dismiss Complaint in a case that stemmed from Defendants' anonymous online speech.  Koch Industries, Inc. v. Does, 2011 WL 1775765 (D.Utah).  Koch Industries is a large corporation that is involved in a wide variety of industries, including the energy business.  Koch maintains a website describing its business and its policy on various political issues, such as editorials rejecting the science of climate change.  Defendants were individuals who later identified themselves as anonymous members of Youth for Climate Truth.  The case arose after Defendants created a fake press release purporting to announce a decision by Koch to cease funding organizations that deny climate change.  The press release included a link to a website created by Defendants, www.koch-inc.com, designed to look like Koch's actual website.

Federal Court Dismisses Facebook's Trademark Infringement Claims Against Teachbook

Teachbook, a social and professional networking Web site dedicated to teachers, successfully moved to dismiss Facebook's trademark infringement claims by arguing that it was not subject to personal jurisdiction in California.  Facebook, Inc. v. Teachbook.com, LLC, No. CV 10-03654 RMW, 2011 WL 1672464 (N.D. Cal. May 3, 2011).  The District Court for the Northern District of California held that although Facebook presented sufficient evidence to show that Teachbook intentionally adopted a "confusingly similar trademark," it did not purposefully avail itself of doing business in California because it did not register users in that state.

Plaintiff Permitted to Serve Discovery on Google and Blogspot to Determine Identity of Anonymous Blogger

A plaintiff suing a John Doe defendant known only as "Tazmanian353" was granted leave to serve discovery on Google and Blogspot.com to determine, among other things, registration information, assignment, billing and payment information, source IP addresses and log files for the user known as Tazmanian353.  Fodor v. Doe, No. 3:10-CV-0798-RCJ, 2011 WL 1629572 (D. Nev. Apr. 27, 2011).  The District Court for the District of Nevada granted plaintiff's request for third party discovery after finding that the plaintiff had established a prima facie case of defamation per se and had sufficiently shown that the balance of the equities weighed in his favor.

After Defendants Produce Over 1.46 Million Pages of ESI, Plaintiff Asks For More

A federal district court judge characterized Plaintiff's motion to compel as a "fishing expedition" and held that the over 1.46 million pages of electronically stored information (ESI) produced by the Defendants was sufficient production pursuant to the parties' Agreement for Electronic Discovery.  Thermal Design, Inc. v. Guardian Building Products, Inc., No. 08-C-828, 2011 WL 1527025 (E.D. Wisc. Apr. 20, 2011).  Holding that the Defendants had met their burden to show that the additional discovery sought was "not reasonably accessible," the Court denied Plaintiff's motion to compel further discovery of ESI.