Background
Ampex Corp. filed a lawsuit against a "John Doe" Internet poster in Contra Costa County Court (Martinez) and issued a subpoena to Yahoo! seeking personal information about the poster. CIS filed a Motion to Quash the subpoena. During the Fall Semester, the cyberlaw clinic students won an important ruling that the plaintiffs must make a threshold showing before information could be subpoenaed, but the discovery commissioner ruled that plaintiffs had successfully made that showing. CIS then filed a Special Motion to Strike (anti-SLAPP Motion) arguing that the case was meritless and should be dismissed. Before that motion could be heard, the plaintiffs dismissed the lawsuit and refiled in another state with a narrower anti-SLAPP statute.
Tomorrow
On Tuesday, April 29, 2003, Stanford Law 2L Erica Platt will argue before the California State Court of Appeal on the issue of whether the defendant is entitled to attorney's fees. Oral argument is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on the Fourth Floor, 350 McAllister Street, San Francisco, CA.