Balough
December 14, 2013
A trial court erred when, prior to trial, it restrained a former wife from posting on the internet allegedly defamatory statements about her former husband. The California appeals court found that to obtain an injunction before trial, “a proponent has a heavy burden to show the countervailing interest is compelling, the prior restraint is […]
Balough
December 14, 2013
A law firm that believes it was defamed has the right in discovery to find out if the defendants have any knowledge about the internet posting. The Seventh Circuit found that the district court erred in not ruling on a request to compel the defendants to disclose if they had any information in their possession […]
Balough
December 14, 2013
In a narrowly written opinion, the Seventh Circuit has granted permission to a Naperville high school student to wear a T-shirt with the slogan “Be Happy, Not Gay” as part of a “Day of Truth” at the school. The ruling reverses the granting of a preliminary injunction by the trial court that upheld the Neuqua […]
Balough
December 14, 2013
A roommate-matching website that uses drop down menus and requires users to identify the user’s sex, sexual orientation and whether he would bring children to a household is not entitled to immunity for its actions, the Ninth Circuit ruled. Under the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA), an internet service provider is immune against liability […]
Balough
December 14, 2013
The three-count conviction of spammer Jeremy Jaynes has been upheld by a 4-3 vote of the Virginia Supreme Court. Jaynes was convicted for forging the header information on thousands of unsolicited commercial electronic messages that he sent out from his Raleigh, N.C. home. The Virginia statute criminalizes forging headers and makes it a felony to […]
Balough
December 14, 2013
A Texas statute that prohibits the advertising or sale of sexual devices was declared a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment by a federal appeals court. The decision reversed the trial court’s finding that the plaintiffs, who marketed and sold sexual devices, had failed to state a cause of action. The Texas statute criminalized the selling, […]
Balough
December 14, 2013
Agreeing with the trial court’s finding that the Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet’s “promotion has been thoroughly dishonest,” the Seventh Circuit has upheld a $16 million judgment and injunction against the promoter. The court agreed that the Federal Trade Commission provided sufficient evidence to require the company to disgorge the $16 million in profits that the Defendants […]
Balough
December 14, 2013
A website that ranks attorneys is publishing only protected opinions, not facts, a Washington federal district court found. Two attorneys who were ranked by Avvo, Inc. claimed they were damaged by the website’s rating and that the ranking violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act. They also alleged that because of the ranking, clients may not […]
Balough
December 14, 2013
A trademark owner who seeks statutory damages for counterfeit goods cannot also recover attorney’s fees, the Ninth Circuit said. Under the trademark law, a trademark owner who sues in a case involving counterfeit goods may elect to recover either three times the actual damages or statutory damages. The court found that the statute allows for […]
Balough
December 14, 2013
Telling a future employer why your former employer fired you does not create a claim for compelled self-defamation. The plaintiff in the case, an attorney, argued that she was compelled to tell future employers that her previous employer had told her she was fired because she mishandled cases, violated the attorney code of ethics, and […]
