Digital Media Lawyer Blog:  “On December 10, 2009, a federal judge in the District of Columbia upheld the attorney-client privilege for an employee’s emails to his attorney, even though his employer had access to them.  The attorney-client privilege generally only exists for private communications between a client and his lawyer, not to communications to which uninvolved third parties have access.  Here, the judge concluded that the privilege applied largely because the client was not aware that his employer had access to the emails.   The case is Convertino v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, D.D.C., No. 1:04-cv-00236.  The plaintiff, Convertino, claims that the DOJ improperly disclosed information about him the Detroit Free Press, in contravention of the Privacy Act. To prove his case, Convertino served a discovery request on the DOJ seeking production of some 736 documents.”

Digital Media Lawyer Blog:  “Readers of this blog know that courts around the U.S. frequently arrive at opposite conclusions on whether the use of a competitor’s trademark in search engine advertising constitutes trademark infringement.  In my view, the courts should not devise a one-size-fits-all rule for such cases, but should consider whether the use of the competitor trade name was a fair use.  However, in a recent decision, an Illinois District Court came close to adopting a hard and fast rule that this practice does constitute trademark infringement — although, this ruling was only on a motion to dismiss, so the defendant still has some wiggle room.  The case is Morningware, Inc. v. Hearthware Home Products, Inc.”

Digital Media Lawyer Blog:  “The recent certification of a national class action in the Citysearch click fraud case represents a major victory – at least for the plaintiffs’ counsel. But whether adjudication of the case will produce significant recoveries for the plaintiffs is an open question.  The Citysearch click fraud class action (Menagerie Productions v. Citysearch, C.D. Cal., No. 2:08-cv-04263) was brought on behalf of some 10,000 advertisers on Citysearch.com websites. Citysearch operates dozens of websites that provide information about restaurants, shops, hotels and other services in individual cities around the U.S. For example, at dallas.citysearch.com, Citysearch provides information geared towards the DFW metroplex.”