Vol. 3, No. 6

Blog Posts

Maine District Court Holds that Group of Individuals Who Published Criticism of “Cult” On-line Are Not an Association-in-Fact Un

By Lauren Gelman • February 22, 2006 at 4:41 pm

In a recent decision, a U.S. District Court set standards that would indicate what on-line activities would and would not constitute racketeering under RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c). The United States District Court for the District of Maine held on a motion for summary judgment that a group of individuals who published allegedly defamatory criticism of plaintiff The Gentle Wind Project (“GWP”) on-line did not qualify as an “association-in-fact” under RICO. Read more » about Maine District Court Holds that Group of Individuals Who Published Criticism of “Cult” On-line Are Not an Association-in-Fact Un

Email address domain name alone not sufficient to cloak agent in apparent authority

By Lauren Gelman • February 22, 2006 at 4:38 pm

The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, in a case of apparent first impression, held that an email sent from the domain name of a company was not enough, standing alone, to cloak an agent in apparent authority that would allow him to bind that company to a contract. In the case, defendant Recovery Express, Inc. (Revovery Express) moved for summary judgment after plaintiff CSX Transportation, Inc. (CSX), a seller of out-of-service railcars and parts, brought an action alleging breach of contract, account stated, unjust enrichment, and quantum meruit. Read more » about Email address domain name alone not sufficient to cloak agent in apparent authority

Maryland Court Reinstates Maryland Commercial Electronic Mail Act

By Lauren Gelman • February 22, 2006 at 4:37 pm

The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland reinstated the Maryland Commercial Electronic Mail Act (MCEMA), reversing a Circuit Court ruling holding that MCEMA violated the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The Court also reversed the lower court’s holding that Maryland lacked personal jurisdiction over defendant First Choice Internet, Inc. (First Choice), a New York-based Internet marketing company, and its holding that defendant Joseph Frevola, a New York resident and president of First Choice, could not be held personally liable for First Choice’s alleged MCEMA violations. Read more » about Maryland Court Reinstates Maryland Commercial Electronic Mail Act

Google Cache Does Not Directly Infringe Site Author’s Copyright

By Lauren Gelman • February 22, 2006 at 4:34 pm

The United States District Court for the District of Nevada granted Defendant Google, Inc.’s motions for summary judgment, finding Defendant did not infringe Plaintiff web site author’s copyright by maintaining a copy of Plaintiff’s works in its online cache and allowing search engine users access to the cached copy. Defendant uses an automated program (“Googlebot”) to crawl the Internet, analyzing and cataloging web pages. The Googlebot also makes a copy of the pages it finds and stores them in a temporary cache on Defendant’s servers. Read more » about Google Cache Does Not Directly Infringe Site Author’s Copyright

Vol. 3, No. 6

IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy: Web Security

Robots, Privacy & Society

Conference on Web Privacy Measurement (WPM)

Understanding the Legal Issues of Driverless Car Integration - Driverless Car Summit