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
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
[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[...]
Socializing Over State Lines: Social Media as a Basis for Personal Jurisdiction
When can using social media get you sued in a state that you don’t live in, and may never even have visited? The “Minimum Contacts” Standard for Personal Jurisdiction That’s a question of “personal jurisdiction,” the legal term of art for a court’s right to exercise its judicial power over a specific person. Whether or[...]
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: due process, facebook, Hale v. Richey, Maersk, minimum contacts, personal jurisdiction, Texas, twitter, Waterman Steamship Co. v. Ruiz, Wilkerson v. RSL Funding, Yahoo!, Yelp!, Zippo sliding scale
Feb.15 Webinar: Social Media Legal Implications for Health Care Providers
On Wednesday, February 15, my colleagues Linda Ross and Mary Pate and I will be presenting on this topic in a webinar sponsored by the Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA). More information and a registration form are available here. This is our second time presenting to the MHA’s constituency, but the substance of our[...]
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: facebook, health care, Linda Ross, LinkedIn, Mary Pate, MHA, Michigan Health & Hospital Association, social media law, twitter, YouTube
This Week in Social Media Law: Dec. 23, 2011
Freedom of Speech: Indian Court Tells Social Networking Sites To Remove Anti-Religious Content: bit.ly/vujBhy — Brian Wassom (@bdwassom) December 22, 2011 Does using Facebook make you ‘famous’ for First Amendment/Right of Publicity purposes? shar.es/W3GQu #fb — Brian Wassom (@bdwassom) December 21, 2011 Law Enforcement: Man Charged After Photo of Girl Bound by[...]
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: child abuse, criminal, cyberstalking, facebook, First Amendment, free speech, twitter
Government Officials Behaving Badly in Social Media
The past couple weeks has seen a rash of news stories about elected officials and public employees posting inappropriate or otherwise embarrassing comments in social media. For example: On December 8, 2011, three staffers for Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) were fired after their inappropriate tweets dating back to July came to light. Among other things,[...]
Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: Dmitry Medvedev, embarrassment, facebook, Rick Larsen, stupid sheep, twitter
This Week in Augmented Reality
Don’t follow me on Twitter? Then you’re missing out on my daily links to new and interesting developments in the world of AR. And since Twitter’s recent redesign now makes it easier than ever to embed tweets directly into blog pages, I now bring you this summary of the news that I’ve shared this week:[...]
Filed Under: Augmented Reality Tagged With: employment, Gene Becker, Islam, junaio, Metaio, Point & Know, religion, Trak Lord, twitter
How I’ve Used Social Media in Trademark Litigation
I never cease to be amazed at what people will write in social media–or at how useful some of those posts can be in court. Click here to read my latest post, titled “Mining Social Network Sites for Evidence in Litigation,” which is guest-hosted on my friend Paige Mill’s blog, IP@Tennessee [& beyond]. Paige is[...]
Filed Under: IP, Social Media Tagged With: actual confusion, breach of contract, evidence, facebook, licensing, Paige Mills, proof of service, Trademark & Unfair Competition, twitter, willful infringement, Yelp!
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