This post is excerpted from the upcoming e-treatise “Wassom on Social Media Law.” We’ve heard a lot in the news lately about forced disclosure of Facebook passwords. Almost all of the discussion has focused on new laws that states across the country have passed to prevent employers and schools from forcing employees and students to[...]
Can a Court Force Me to Disclose My Facebook Password?
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: discovery, facebook, password, relevabce, twitter, Wassom on Social Media Law
Trademarks, Likelihood of Confusion, and Social Media
Trademark law in the United States has one overarching goal: to prevent consumers from being confused over the source of a product or service. The function of a trademark is to communicate to the marketplace who is offering the good or service. So, for example, when I’m driving down the road and spy the Golden[...]
Filed Under: IP, Social Media Tagged With: facebook, kin, Kinect, likelihood of confusion, Trademark & Unfair Competition, twitter
Can Facebook Spam Be Canned?
Maria Martinez co-authored this post. She is a law student at the University of Michigan and served as an intern to the Hon. Mark A. Goldsmith, U.S. Dist Ct., E.D. Mich. Congress was about as close as that body comes to the cutting edge when it passed a law to combat email spam in 2003.[...]
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: CAN-SPAM, facebook, MaxBounty, Power Ventures, spam
Consumer Protection in Social Media
At this week’s New Media Expo / BusinessNext (formerly BlogWorld) conference in Las Vegas, I spoke on a panel called “Social Media and the Law: Emerging Legal Issues and Obligations.” My portion of the talk was dedicated to consumer protection issues. For those who couldn’t be there, here’s a summary of what I discussed. Consumer[...]
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: #NMX, Ann Taylor, astroturfing, BBB, cmp.ly, Coastal Contacts, consumer protection, disclosure, endorsement, facebook, FTC, Hyundai, Likes, Michael Hyatt, NAD, Nutrisystem, Pinterest, twitter
How Social Media Law Developed in 2012
In January of this year, I wrote an article for Mashable called “5 Predictions for Social Media Law in 2012.” As the year comes to a close, I’m happy to report that all five came true. Let’s take a look: 1. Facebook Litigation Brings New Attention to the Right of Publicity. A year ago, a[...]
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: evidence, facebook, Fraley, gang, NLRB, privacy, PrivacyFix, protected concerted activity, Right of Publicity, SetMy Privacy, student speech
Persuading Facebook to Remove Misleading Pages
I recently had success in persuading Facebook to take down a Page dedicated to criticizing a client.{*} In the process, I learned a few things about what Facebook finds persuasive in takedown requests. The Page in question used the phrase that our client uses as a trade name and service mark–let’s call it TRADEMARK–as the[...]
Filed Under: IP, Social Media Tagged With: customer confusion, facebook, gripe site, initial interest confusion, like button, misleading, pissedconsumer, ripoffreport, takedown, Trademark & Unfair Competition
10 Reasons NOT to “Declare” Your Copyrights and Privacy on Facebook
Facebook has been overrun over the past few days with users’ “declarations” about their supposed copyright and privacy rights. Dozens of my own Facebook friends have re-posted the same message, and others are wondering aloud if this is something they need to be doing, too. So do these boilerplate declarations accomplish anything, other than fueling[...]
Filed Under: IP, Social Media Tagged With: Berne Convention, Berner Convention, Copyright, declaration, facebook, privacy, UCC 1-103, UCC 1-308
Student Council President Vindicates Free Speech Rights on Facebook, But Removed Anyway
The case Lack v. Kersey is a few months old, but with school now back in session and Homecoming season just ending, its lessons are nevertheless still timely. Student Council President Rueben Lack filed a federal lawsuit seeking reinstatement as the student council president at Alpharetta High School near Atlanta, Georgia. Lack maintained that[...]
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Alpharetta, facebook, high school, public schools, Rueben Lack, student council
[GUEST POST] Social Media and Criminal Law: Harassment and True Threats
This post was principally authored by Joseph R. Morrison, Jr., a law student at the University of Michigan and a 2012 summer associate at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP. Social media, by definition, facilitates a person reaching out and communicating more easily with a larger number of people. This is beneficial in that it[...]
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: assault, criminal, facebook, First Amednment, free speech, harassment, threat, true threat, YouTube
[GUEST POST] Public Company Use of Social Media
This post was authored by Rebecca L. Friedrick. She is a law student at the University of Notre Dame Law School and was a 2012 summer associate at Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP. Introduction As individuals increase their use of social media, companies are joining the conversation in increasing numbers. Over the past couple of[...]
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