US Law Archives - Page 69 of 71

Yahoo Not Liable for Improper Use of Woman’s Name

Bev Stayart sued Yahoo, but a federal court dismissed her complaint. Bev claimed that she is the only person who uses her name on the internet. She searched for her name at yahoo.com and altavista.com and found many spam sites offering to sell Cialis (and other related drugs) or that contained explicit banner ads for adultfriendfinder.com. Bev Stayart sued Yahoo and Overture (former owner of altavista.com, which was acquired by Yahoo) for false endorsement under the Lanham Act and violation of privacy.

Bev’s claims were barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Section 230 grants interactive online services of all types, including news websites, blogs, forums, and listservs, broad immunity from certain types of legal liability stemming from content created by others.

A Destructive Toy Story Made in Washington

We have all heard the statement “we are from the government and are here to help you.” On February 10, 2009, a new law called the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act became effective. This is a perfect example of the federal government fixing something that was not broken and costing billions of dollars and the loss of many jobs.

Walter Olson has a column about this new and awful law in today’s Wall St. Journal. Mr. Olson says “A dubious safety law is hammering small business, but Congress refuses to fix the mess it created in 2008.” Mr. Olson has written about the CPSIA controversy extensively on his blog called Overlawyered.com.

This law has saddled businesses with billions of dollars in losses on T-shirts, bath toys and other items that were lawful to sell one day and unlawful the next. It has induced thrift and secondhand stores to trash mountains of outgrown blue jeans, bicycles and board games for fear there might be trivial, harmless—but suddenly illegal—quantities of lead in their zippers and valves or phthalates in their plastic spinners. (Phthalates are substances that add flexibility to plastic.) Even classic children’s books are at risk: Because lead was not definitively removed from printing inks until 1985, the CPSC has advised that only kids’ books printed after that date should be considered safe to resell.

Court Says Employer Should Not Have Fired Employee for MySpace Comments

A jury in the case of Pietrylo v. Hillstone Restaurant Group sent a warning message to employers that they should think twice before firing an employee over comments the employee posts online. The jury found that Hillstone Restaurant Group, the operator of a Houston’s restaurant did not have a basis to fire two employees because of their posts on MySpace. The jury found that the employer violated the federal Stored Communications Act and invaded the former employees’ privacy.

9th Circuit OKs Ban on Religious Music at Graduation

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Nurre v. Whitehead that a school district could ban religious-themed instrumental musical at a high school graduation ceremony. The court said the ban did not violate the Free Speech, Establishment, and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution. The plaintiff was a band member who sued because the district prohibited the band from playing the song “Ave Maria.”

Judge puts Coyotes Decision on Hold

After a hearing on Thursday, September 10, 2009, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Redfield Baum was unable to decide which of the two bidders would be allowed to purchase the Phoenix/Glendale Coyotes hockey franchise.

Baum held hearings Thursday and Friday in Phoenix on whether the Coyotes, who are in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, will be bought by Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie for $213 million and be moved to Hamilton, Ontario, or bought by the National Hockey League which wants to run the team, bring it out of bankruptcy and sell it to a new owner who will keep the organization in Glendale.