Selected Cases Regarding Online Service Provider Liability

Eric Goldman
egoldman@gmail.com
Last Updated 12/31/07

Copyright

A & M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.

  • 114 F. Supp. 2d 896 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 10, 2000)

Napster contributorily infringed because it had both actual knowledge and, at least, constructive knowledge that users were using the software to infringe and facilitate the infringement; and found vicarious infringement through some dubious assertions about Napster’s supervision/policing of its service; thus, Napster cannot claim § 512(a) safe harbor

District court issued a preliminary injunction requiring the record companies to submit some information about the infringing items to force Napster to remove the items within 3 business days

  • 284 F.3d 1091 (9th Cir. Mar. 25, 2002)

9th Circuit affirmed the district court’s modified injunction and shutdown order

In re Aimster Copyright Litig.

  • 252 F. Supp. 2d 634 (N.D. Ill. 2002)

Injunction based on contributory and vicarious infringement

ALS Scan v. RemarQ Cmtys.

  • CA-99-2594-JFM (D. Md. 2000)

Dismissing a copyright infringement claim over user-posted infringements over two USENET newsgroups

ALS Scan submitted a notice that “substantially” complied with the DMCA requirements; thus, RemarQ could not claim the §512(c) safe harbor.

Arista Records, Inc. v. MP3Board, Inc.

  • 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16165 (S.D.N.Y. 2002)

Denying summary judgments for both sides

  • 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11392 (S.D.N.Y. 2003)

Central Point Software, Inc. v. Nugent

903 F. Supp. 1057 (E.D. Tex. 1995)

BBS sysop “reproduced” software solely because the files were on the sysop’s system–without any allegation that the sysop loaded the files or knew they were there

Comcast of Illinois X, LLC v. Hightech Elecs., Inc.

2004 WL 1718522 (N.D. Ill. 2004)

Addressing the liability of a website and web host for linking to illegal cable pirating devices; rejecting liability under the Cable Communications Act, but holding that the complaint stated a cause of action under the Illinois Cable Piracy Act and the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions

Copeland v. Collins (N.D. Cal. Mar. 25, 1999)

A not-for-publication case dismissing direct, contributory and vicarious copyright infringement for a USENET provider for an infringing USENET posting.

Corbis Corp. v. Amazon.com, Inc.

2004 WL 3092244 (W.D. Wash. 2004)

Thorough discussion of Amazon’s eligibility for §512(c), discussing the standards for repeat infringer termination policies and the interplay between §512(c)(3) notices (which Corbis did not send) and knowledge of red flags; court ruled that Amazon is protected by § 512(c) safe harbor on summary judgment.

CoStar Group Inc. v. LoopNet, Inc.

Web host cannot be liable for direct infringement, the DMCA safe harbors are irrelevant to determining underlying liability for infringement, and cursory scans by employees do not trigger direct liability

Ellison v. Robertson

  • 189 F. Supp. 2d 1051 (C.D. Cal. 2001)

In a dispute over copyright infringement committed by users on USENET, rejecting AOL’s and RemarQ’s motion to dismiss.  RemarQ settled the case in January 2002.

AOL had not properly complied with the DMCA safe harbor requirements based on a notification email address that was not working.  The case upheld the district court’s dismissal of AOL’s vicarious copyright infringement liability, but reversed the district court on the contributory copyright infringement claim.

FatWallet, Inc. v. Best Buy

2004 WL 793548 (N.D. Ill. 2004)

Dicta that §512(c)(3) notices have no negative consequences to a service provider if ignored.

Field v. Google

Google not liable for its “cache” option.

Frank Music Corp. v. CompuServe, Inc.

No. 93 Civ. 8153 (S.D.N.Y 1993)

Class action suit by various copyright owners against CompuServe for distributing MIDI files.  The case settled with CompuServe paying $568,000.  Settlement agreement available at http://www.courttv.com/archive/legaldocs/cyberlaw/compuserve2.html.

Hendrickson v. Amazon.com, Inc.

298 F. Supp. 2d 914 (C.D. Cal. 2003)

§512(c)(3) notice that DVD was infringing inadequate did not apply to future listings, so Amazon qualified for §512 safe harbor.

Hendrickson v. eBay Inc.

  • May 7, 2001 ruling

Denied plaintiff’s preliminary injunction

Summary judgment for eBay on copyright infringement claim due to §512(c)(3) defense.

Intellectual Reserve v. Utah Lighthouse Ministry

75 F. Supp. 2d 1290 (D.Ct. Utah 1999), available at http://www.law.uh.edu/faculty/cjoyce/copyright/release10/IntRes.html.

Linking to infringing material could constitute contributory infringement.  Case settled December 8, 2000, apparently without payment.

Los Angeles Times v. Free Republic

No. CV 98-7840 Slip Op. (C.D. Cal. July 31, 2000), available at http://www.techlawjournal.com/courts/freerep/20000731ord.asp.

In an effectively uncontested ruling, finding contributory infringement for encouraging users to post full text articles.

Marobie-FL, Inc. v. Nat’l Ass’n of Fire Equip. Distrib. & Northwest Nexus, Inc., http://www.Loundy.com/CASES/Marobie_v_NAFED.html.

983 F. Supp. 1167 (N.D. Ill. 1997).

Marvel Enters. Inc. v. NCSoft Corp.

No. CV 04-9253 (C.D. Cal. 2005)

  • In lawsuit against online game provider for allowing users to create characters, court refused to dismiss the contributory/vicarious copyright infringement claims, but dismissed the contributory and vicarious trademark claims.  http://www.authorslawyer.com/case/DCAC-04-09253a.pdf
  • In August 2005, the court ruled that a “service provider” under 512 does not need to be “passive” or “innocent” to qualify for 512(f).

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.

  • 259 F. Supp. 2d 1029 (C.D. Cal. 2003)

Dismissing contributory and vicarious copyright infringement claims against file-sharing software manufacturers

Saying that defendants could be liable if they distributed “a device with the object of promoting its use to infringing copyright, as show by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement.”

Parker v. Google

  • No. 04-CV-3918 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 10, 2006)

Google not liable for USENET postings.

  • No. 06-3074 (3d Cir. July 10, 2007)

Upheld on appeal.

Perfect 10, Inc. v CCBill, LLC

  • 340 F. Supp. 2d 1077 (C.D. Cal. 2004)

iBill, a payment processor, qualified for §512(a).  An adult verification service qualified for §512(a) and §512(d).  Court appears to confuse the requirement to act expeditiously in response to §512(c)(3) notices with the requirement to terminate repeat infringers under §512(i).

  • No. 04-57143, 04-57207 (9th Cir. March 29, 2007)

Omnibus interpretations of 512.  512(c)(3) notices require all elements.  Service providers don’t need to affirmatively police.  Websites with bad titles don’t trigger inquiry duty.  512(a) can apply even if service provider doesn’t carry infringing bits.

Perfect 10, Inc. v. Cybernet Ventures, Inc.

213 F. Supp. 2d 1146 (C.D. Cal. 2002)

Perfect 10, Inc v. Google

  • District court: Google may be directly liable for displaying thumbnail images.
  • Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., CV-05-04753-AHM (9th Cir. May 16, 2007).  No direct liability but may be contributory liability.

Perfect 10, Inc. v. Visa Int’l Serv. Assoc.

  • 2004 WL 1773349 (N.D. Cal. 2004)

No contributory or vicarious copyright liability for financial payment processor.

  • Ruling dated December 3, 2004

The court granted defendant’s motion to dismiss, specifying that “economic influence” was insufficient to create contributory or vicarious infringement.

  • No. 05-15170 (9th Cir. July 3, 2007)

Upheld on appeal.

Playboy Enters., Inc. v. Frena

839 F. Supp. 1552 (M.D. Fla. 1993).

Playboy Enters., Inc. v. Russ Hardenburgh, Inc.

982 F. Supp. 503 (N.D. Ohio 1997), available at http://www.Loundy.com/CASES/Playboy_v_Hardenburgh.html.

Holding a BBS directly liable for copyright infringement committed by its users when the BBS encouraged users to upload files and prescreened user file transfers.  Holding the BBS contributorily liable for copyright infringement committed by its users because the BBS encouraged users to upload adult files, benefited from having more files available, and constructively knew that infringing activity was occurring because the BBS knew Playboy was enforcing its rights against the world and it seemed likely that Playboy photos would find their way onto the system.

Playboy Enters., Inc. v. Sanfilippo

1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5125 (S.D. Cal. 1998)

$3.7 million judgment for copyright infringement when a website provided subscription access to pictures that may have been uploaded by a third party.

Playboy Enters., Inc. v. Webbworld, Inc.

Religious Tech. Ctr. v. Netcom On-Line Communication Servs., Inc.

907 F. Supp. 1361 (N.D. Cal. 1995)

Case ultimately settled.

Sega Enters. Ltd. v. MAPHIA

Sega Enters. Ltd. v. Sabella

948 F. Supp. 923 (N.D. Cal. 1996), available at http://digital-law-online.info/cases/41PQ2D1705.htm.

SMC Promotions, Inc. v. SMC Promotions

355 F. Supp. 2d 1127 (C.D. Cal. 2005)

Website that copied photos and descriptions and then offered them to users to incorporate into websites cannot later claim to be user’s agent to take advantage of user’s license to use the photos and descriptions.

UMG Recordings Inc. v. Bertelsmann AG

Case No. 04-2121 (N.D. Cal. 2004), available at http://www.orrick.com/fileupload/319.htm.

Financiers’ day-to-day control over Napster’s operations could constitute contributory infringement.

Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Corley

Linking to DeCSS is trafficking under DMCA anti-circumvention

  • amended by 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12548 (S.D.N.Y. 2001).

U.S. v. LaMacchia

871 F. Supp. 535 (D. Mass. 1994), available at http://www.loundy.com/CASES/US_v_LaMacchia.html.

Defamation // Publisher/Speaker // Non-IP Claims

800-JR Cigar v. GoTo.com, Inc.

2006 WL 1971659 (D. N.J. July 13, 2006)

Doubting that Yahoo qualifies as an interactive computer service when selling keywords.

Almeida v. Amazon.com, Inc.

  • 2004 WL 4910036 (S.D. Fla. July 30, 2004)
  • 2006 U.S. APP. LEXIS 17989 (11th Cir. July 18, 2006).  Punting on the question of whether 230 preempts publicity rights claim.

Anthony v. Yahoo! Inc.

2006 WL 708572 (N.D. Cal. March 17, 2006)

Yahoo can’t claim 230 defense when allegedly it created false postings itself and retained expired postings but characterized them falsely as active.

Aquino v. Electriciti Inc.

26 Med. L. Rptr. 1032 (Cal. Super. Ct., San Francisco City and County 1997)

Associated Bank-Corp. v. EarthLink, Inc.

2005 WL 2240952 (W.D. Wis. Sept. 13, 2005)

EarthLink’s reliance on third party classification of website as phishing site is protected by 230.

Austin v. CrystalTech Web Hosting

2005 WL 3489249 (Ariz. App. Div. Dec. 22, 2005)

Web host not liable for defamatory content per 230

Avery v. Idleaire Technologies Corp.

2007 WL 1574269 (E.D. Tenn. May 29, 2007).

Employer can’t claim 230 to avoid hostile workplace claim.

Barnes v. Yahoo, Inc.

2005 WL 3005602 (D. Or. Nov. 7, 2005)

Yahoo isn’t liable for an ex-boyfriend’s efforts to commit online harassment.  Plaintiff unsuccessfully tried to get around 230 by analogizing Yahoo’s remediation promises to the rescue cases.

Barrett v. Clark

  • 2001 WL 881259 (Cal. Super. Ct. July 25, 2001)

§230 protects person who forwards a message to a newsgroup

  • aff’d in part and rev’d in part, 5 Cal. Rptr. 3d 416 (Cal. App. Ct. 2003)
  • vacated, 9 Cal. Rptr. 3d 142 (Cal. 2004)
  • superseded by 87 P.3d 797 (Cal. 2004)
  • Case dismissed by the California Supreme Court.  Barrett v. Rosenthal, S122953 (Cal. Supreme Ct. Nov. 20, 2006), http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S122953.PDF.

Barrett v. Fonorow

799 N.E.2d 916 (Ill. Ct. App. 2003)

§230 claim protects website from defamation and false light claims.

Batzel v. Smith

  • 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8929 (C.D. Cal. 2001)

In a weird procedural position—trying to decide if the case should be stricken under anti-SLAPP laws—holding that a website and its operator were not ICSs for purposes of §230(c)

Partially reversed on appeal, remanding to the district court to determine if the blogger should have thought the tipster email was private or if he could have assumed it was intended for posting to the blog; in the latter case, §230(c) applies,

With substantive dissent

  • cert denied, 124 S.Ct. 2812 (2004).

Ben Ezra Weinstein & Co. v. Am. Online Inc.

  • 1998 WL 896459 (D.N.M. July 16, 1998)

47 U.S.C. § 230 can support a motion to suspend discovery pending summary judgment motions in a suit against the ICS for defamation and inaccurate information

Bergraft v. eBay

Docket No. L-566-02 (N.J. Super. Ct. 2003), available at http://eric_goldman.tripod.com/caselaw/begraftvebay.pdf.

§230 removes eBay’s liability for retracted bid.

Beyond Sys. Inc. v. Keynetics Inc.

Civil No. PJM 04-686 (D. Md. Feb. 14, 2006)

230 protects email service provider from liability for users’ violations of Maryland’s anti-spam statute

Blumenthal v. Drudge

992 F. Supp. 44 (D.D.C. Apr. 22, 1998)

Due to §230, AOL not liable for the Drudge Report even when AOL pays a monthly fee for the content and has the contract right to editorially control the content.

Carafano v. Metrosplash.com, Inc.

  • 207 F. Supp. 2d 1055 (C.D. Cal. March 12, 2002)

§230 did not apply to matchmaking website because they were deemed an information content provider by asking multiple-choice questions and specific essay questions.

Matchmaker is not liable under §230 unless it “created or developed the particular information at issue.”

Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under the Law, Inc. v. Craigslist, Inc.

1:06-CV-00657 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 14, 2006)

Judgment on the pleadings against Fair Housing Act claim, but in dicta saying that 230 may not apply to passive or overly active publishers or to any cause of action that doesn’t contain “publication” as an element.

Cisneros v. Sanchez

2005 WL 3312631 (S.D. Tex. Dec. 7, 2005)

230 defense does not raise federal question sufficient to remove case to federal court.

Corbis Corp. v. Amazon.com, Inc.

351 F. Supp. 2d 1090 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 21, 2004)

§230 protects Amazon from claims under the Washington Consumer Protection Act and tortious interference with business relations.

Cubby, Inc. v. CompuServe Inc.

776 F. Supp. 135 (S.D.N.Y. 1991) http://www.alw.nih.gov/Security/FIRST/papers/legal/cubby.txt.

D’Alonzo v. Truscello

2006 Phila. Ct. Com. Pl. LEXIS 244 (Phila. Ct. Common Pleas May 31, 2006)

Griper gets 230 defense for article that griper reposts

Delfino v. Agilent Technologies, Inc.

2006 WL 3635399 (Cal. App. Ct. Dec. 14, 2006)

Employer not liable for employee’s cyberthreats per 230.

DiMeo v. Max

No. 06-1544 (E.D. Pa. May 26, 2006), http://www.tuckermax.com/archives/SFX5C3.pdf.

Online message board protected by 230.  Opinion says the message board could be both a provider and a user of an ICS.

Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. QIP Holders, LLC 2007 WL 1186026 (D. Conn. April 19, 2007) 230 is affirmative defense, so it doesn’t support 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss

Doe v. Am. Online, Inc.

Appellate court upheld the lower court’s decision that AOL could not be liable under §230(c) for a user’s violation of certain Florida anti-pornography statutes

  • aff’d, 783 So. 2d 1010 (Fla. 2001)

Florida Supreme Court upheld the decision 4-3

  • cert denied, 534 U.S. 891 (2001)

Doe v. Bates

·       No. 5:05CV91 (E.D. Tex. Jan. 18, 2006), available at http://courthousenews.com/yahoo_TX.pdf.

Yahoo not civilly liable for user-uploaded child pornography.  Court rejects request to conduct discovery to find facts that may hold Yahoo liable.  Court also rejects that 230(e)(1) left open civil causes of action related to child porn.

·       2006 WL 3813758 (E.D. Tex. Dec. 27, 2006)

Judge adopts magistrate’s opinion.

Does v. Franco Prods.

·       2000 U.S. Dist Lexis 8645 (N.D. Ill. June 21, 2000), available at http://eric_goldman.tripod.com/caselaw/doevfranco.htm.

§230 grants web host immunity from privacy rights claims and public nuisance claims.

·       347 F.3d 655 (7th Cir. 2003), available at http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/op3.fwx?submit1=showop&caseno=02-4323.PDF.

Upheld on appeal; some dicta raises questions about the scope of §230 in the Seventh Circuit.

Doe v. MySpace, Inc.

No. A-06-CA983-SS (W.D. Tex. 2/13/2007)

MySpace not liable for negligence for sexual assault of child.

Doe v. Oliver

755 A.2d 1000 (Conn. Super. Ct. Mar. 7, 2000)

Under §230, rejecting negligence claims that AOL allowed a user to send defamatory emails.

Doe v. SexSearch.com

2007 WL 2388913 (N.D. Ohio Aug. 22, 2007)

Website isn’t liable when user misreports her age.

Donato v. Moldow

865 A.2d 711 (N.J. Super. Ct., App. Div. Jan. 31, 2005)

Court granted judgment on pleadings based on §230 to community-oriented website based on defamatory pseudonymous message board postings even though the operator editorially chose to delete some messages and not others; the court defined responsibility for being a joint information content provider as “material substantive contribution to the information that is ultimately published.”

Eckert v. Microsoft Corp.

2007 WL 496692 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 13, 2007)

MSN not liable for online message board or online messaging tools used for defamation and harassment.

Energy Automation Systems, Inc. v. Xcentric Ventures, LLC

2007 WL 1557202 (M.D. Tenn. May 25, 2007)

230 doesn’t support a 12(b)(2) motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction.

Faegre & Benson v. Purdy

  • 367 F. Supp. 2d 1238 (D. Minn. Apr. 27, 2005), available at https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/faegrepurdy.pdf.  230 precludes liability on a gripe site’s message board for either defamation or “appropriation.”
  • 2006 WL 2466141(D. Minn. Aug 24, 2006).  Purdy loses 230 protection because evidence presented that he made the posts in question.

Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommate.com

  • 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27987 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 30, 2004)

Roommate matching service not liable for violations of Fair Housing Act committed by its members per 230, even if the service uses a questionnaire with dialog boxes to elicit information.

  • CV-03-09386-PA (9th Cir. May 15, 2007)

Reversed on appeal

Gentry v. eBay, Inc.

Dismissing some claims against eBay for selling fake sports memorabilia.

Global Royalties, Ltd. v. Xcentric Ventures, LLC

07-956-PHX-FJM (D. Ariz. Oct. 10, 2007)

230 applies even if website retains content that author asked to remove

Grace v. Neeley

Dismissing a claim against eBay for a defamatory feedback posting, but saying that §230 did not cover the plaintiff’s claims regarding fictitious name registrations and the presentation of information about sales tax

  • Grace v. eBay, Inc., 2004 WL 214449 (Cal. App. Ct. Feb. 5, 2004)

Unpublished ruling

Appeals court found that §230 does not protect information distributors who knew/had reason to know of defamatory material, but eBay’s contractual release absolved it of liability nonetheless

  • opinion superseded by 99 P.3d 2 (Cal. Oct. 13, 2004)

California Supreme Court granted a hearing and vacated the appeals court opinion

  • remanded by 101 P.3d 509 (Cal. Dec. 1, 2004)

The Supreme Court dismissed the hearing.  As a consequence, eBay won the case and there is no citable opinion from the case.

Green v. Am. Online

318 F.3d 465 (3d Cir. Jan. 16, 2003)

AOL not liable under §230 for transmission of harmful code in chatroom.

Hart v. Internet Wire, Inc.

  • 145 F. Supp. 2d 360 (S.D.N.Y. June 14, 2001)

Press release publishers not liable under Securities law for bogus press release

  • complaint dismissed at 163 F. Supp. 2d 316 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 3, 2001)
  • aff’d, 2002 U.S. App. LEXIS 21310 (2d Cir. 2002)

Kempf v. Time, Inc.

No. BC 184799 (Cal. Super. Ct. June 11, 1998), available at http://legal.web.aol.com/decisions/dldefam/kempfdis.html

Dismissing a claim against various ISPs based on §230(c)(1).

Hammer v. Trendl

2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 623 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 18, 2003)

Limiting Amazon.com’s liability for a review posted on its site.

Huntingdon Life Sciences, Inc. v. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA, Inc.

129 Cal.App.4th 1228 (Cal. App. Ct. June 1, 2005)

Questioning, in a footnote, if a website is an “interactive computer service”

Hy Cite Corp. v. badbusinessbureau.com

2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38082 (D. Ariz. Dec. 27, 2005)

No 230 motion to dismiss when plaintiff alleges that web operator created the content at issue

International Padi, Inc. v. Diverlink

2005 WL 1635347 (9th Cir. Jul. 13, 2005)

Website not liable for publishing allegedly defamatory article written by someone else (230 defense arising in the context of an anti-SLAPP lawsuit).

Kathleen R. v. City of Livermore

87 Cal. App. 4th 684 (Mar. 6, 2001)

Landry-Bell v. Various, Inc.

  • 2005 US Dist Lexis 38471 (W.D. La. Dec. 27, 2005)

Swinger site not liable for user profiles allegedly posted by harassing ex-boyfriend per 230

  • 2006 WL 273599 (W.D. La. Feb. 2, 2006) (rejecting the magistrate’s report)

Langdon v. Google, Inc.

2007 WL 530156 (D. Del. Feb. 20, 2007)

Search engine filtering decisions protected by 230(c)(2).

Lunney v. Prodigy Servs. Corp.

Prodigy was not the publisher of allegedly defamatory statements in emails and message board postings; and even if it was, Prodigy had a qualified telecommunications company-style privilege

Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC v. Black Ice Software, Inc.

2000 WL 34016435 (Cal. Superior Ct. Oct. 13, 2000)

Email blocklist provider qualifies as ICS (as access software provider), but allegation of bad-faith blocking defeats demurrer based on 230(c)(2) and publication of IP address isn’t protected by 230(c)(2).

Mainstream Loudoun v. Board of Trustees

§230(c)(2) does not prevent an action for equitable relief against a library using filtering software that allegedly violates the First Amendment

  • summary judgment granted by 24 F. Supp. 2d 552 (E.D. Va. Nov. 23, 1998)

Marczeski v. Law

122 F. Supp. 2d 315 (D. Conn. Nov. 2, 2000)

Chat room operator not liable for defamation

MCW Inc. v. badbusinessbureau.com

2004 WL 833595 (N.D. Tex. Apr. 19, 2004)

Gripe site operators not eligible for §230 because they partially created the allegedly defamatory content, saying that the operators would be responsible for content generated by third parties if the operators actively encouraged and instructed those parties to generate the content.

Morrison v. Am. Online, Inc.

153 F. Supp. 2d 930 (N.D. Ind. Aug. 2, 2001)

Cannot claim to be third party beneficiary of member contract as end-run around §230

Murawski v. Pataki

2007 WL 2781054 (S.D.N.Y. Sept, 26, 2007)

47 USC 230 protects Ask.com from liability for its search results and its decision to index sites.

New York v. BuffNet

(settlement Feb. 2001)

ISP pled guilty to criminal facilitation in the fourth degree for failing to remove newsgroups that carried child porn.

Noah v. AOL Time Warner Inc.

§230 shields AOL from claim of Title II of Civil Rights Act

  • aff’d, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 5495 (4th Cir. Mar. 24, 2004)

Novak v. Overture Servs., Inc.

309 F. Supp. 2d 446 (E.D.N.Y. 2004)

§230 insulates Google from claim for tortious interference with prospective economic opportunities based on disparaging remarks in discussion forum.

Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, Inc. v. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA, Inc.

2006 WL 2884915 (Cal. App. Ct. Oct. 12, 2006)

Website may not qualify as interactive computer service.

OptInRealBig.com, LLC v. Ironport Sys., Inc.

323 F. Supp. 2d 1037 (N.D. Cal. June 25, 2004)

Spam complaint forwarding system SpamCop protected by §230.

Pallorium v. Jared

No. G036124 (Cal. Ct. App. Jan. 11, 2007)

Anti-spammer not liable for blocklisting website per 230(c)(2)

PatentWizard, Inc. v. Kinko’s, Inc.

2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15675 (D. S.D. Sept. 27, 2001)

Dismissing a set of negligence and similar claims brought against Kinko’s for allowing a customer to use Internet terminals to post allegedly defamatory content in a chat room.

Parker v. Google

  • No. 04-CV-3918 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 10, 2006)

Google protected by 230 from defamation and other claims based on USENET posts.

  • No. 06-3074 (3d Cir. July 10, 2007)

Upheld on appeal.

Perfect 10, Inc. v CCBill LLC

  • Case No. CV 02-7624 LGB (C.D. Cal. June 22, 2004)

Right of publicity claim is an “IP claim,” and therefore, not eligible for coverage by §230, but §230 preempts false advertising claim and CA B&P17200 claim even if predicated on trademark claim.

  • No. 04-57143, 04-57207 (9th Cir. March 29, 2007) (en banc hearing denied May 31, 2007)

230 preempts all state IP claims, including right of publicity.

Perfect 10, Inc. v. Visa Int’l Serv. Assoc.

  • Case No. C 04-0371 JW (N.D. Cal. Aug. 5, 2004)

Discussing various “aiding and abetting” theories for various causes of action; no reference to §230.

Prickett v. infoUSA, Inc.

2006 WL 887431 (E.D. Tex. Mar. 30, 2006)

Syndicating third party content does not blow 230 protection.

Ramey v. Darkside Producs., Inc.

2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10107 (D.D.C. May 17, 2004)

§230 precludes liability for ads provided to ICS, even if the website categorizes ads and makes minor modifications.

Roskowski v. Corvallis Police Officers’ Ass’n

  • 2005 WL 555398 (D. Ore. Mar. 9, 2005)

§230 applies to website being sued for false light/invasion of privacy based on emails that users posted to the website anonymously; court noted that defendants “had no control over who posted or what was posted on the website,” although this should be irrelevant under §230.

  • 2007 WL 2963633 (9th Cir. Oct. 10, 2007)

Affirming the district court ruling.

Sabbato v. Hardy

2000 WL 33594542 (Ohio Ct. App. Dec. 18, 2000)

Overturning a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss based on §230 because some evidence was required to conclude that defendant was a “provider.”

Schneider v. Amazon.com, Inc.

31 P.3d 37 (Wash. App. Div. Sept. 17, 2001) available at http://www.law.pitt.edu/madison/cyberlaw/supplement/schneider_v_amazon.htm

§230 precludes defamation liability for a book review written by one of its users.

Smith v. Intercosmos Media Group, Inc.

2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24251 (E.D. La. Dec. 17, 2002)

Due to §230, domain name registrar not liable for negligence based on allegedly defamatory website hosted at the domain name.

Stoner v. eBay, Inc.

2000 WL 1705637 (Cal. Super. Ct. Nov. 7, 2000), available at http://www.loundy.com/CASES/Stoner_v_eBay.html.

Based on §230, dismissing a claim against eBay for violating Cal. Business & Professions Code 17200 based on bootleg recordings being sold via eBay.

Stratton Oakmont, Inc. v. Prodigy Servs. Co.

Tabor v. Willey

2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10445 (N.D. Iowa May 3, 2001)

Procedural case involving the removal of a case from federal to state court based on §230.

Truelove v. Mensa

Civil Case No. PJM 97-3463 (D. Md. Feb. 10, 1999), available at http://legal.web.aol.com/decisions/dldefam/truelove.html

Dismissing a complaint against L-Soft, a mail list operator, on defamation and negligence based on §230(c)—but plaintiffs conceded that L-Soft was an I.C.S.

Tzougrakis v. Cyvelliance, Inc.

145 F. Supp. 2d 325 (S.D.N.Y. May 21, 2001)

No liability for websites republishing allegedly defamatory press release; no mention of §230(c).

Universal Communication Systems, Inc. v. Lycos, Inc.

  • 2005 WL 5250032 (D. Mass. Dec. 21, 2005)
  • 2007 WL 549111 (1st Cir. Feb. 23, 2007).  Message board operator protected from liability for users’ message board postings.

Voicenet Communications, Inc. v. Corbett

2006 WL 2506318 (E.D. Pa. Aug 30, 2006)

230 preempts state criminal laws.

Whitney Information Network, Inc. v. Verio, Inc.

2006 WL 66724 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 11, 2006).

Web host not liable for defamation or interference with business relationships per 230; specifically concluding that a web host is an ICS.

Whitney Information Network, Inc. v. Xcentric Ventures LLC

  • 2005 WL 1677256 (M.D. Fla. July 14, 2005).  Website publishing consumer gripes not liable for defamation under 47 USC 230.
  • 2006 WL 2243041 (11th Cir. Aug 1., 2006).  Reversing dismissal on jurisdictional grounds.  Implying that a website’s editing of third party content would preclude 230 immunization.

Winter v. Bassett

Zeran v. Am. Online, Inc.

Trademarks

1-800 Contacts, Inc. v. WhenU.com

  • 309 F. Supp. 2d 467 (S.D.N.Y. Dec. 22, 2003)
  • Reversed by the Second Circuit, June 27, 2005

WhenU did not “use” 1-800 Contacts’ trademarks when it included them in its unpublished database or triggered branded pop-up ads.

800-JR Cigar v. GoTo.com, Inc.

2006 WL 1971659 (D. N.J. July 13, 2006)

Selling keywords is a trademark use in commerce.

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sci. v. Network Solutions Inc.

989 F. Supp. 1276 (C.D. Cal. Dec. 10, 1997)

Dismissing various dilution and trademark attacks on NSI; in particular, dismissing contributory trademark infringement because NSI lacked actual knowledge of the infringement, dismissing dilution because NSI does not make commercial use of the trademarks, and dismissing contributory dilution because no such cause of action exists.

Beverly v. Network Solutions, Inc.

  • 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8888 (N.D. Cal. 1998)

Rejecting various contract and tort causes of action raised by a domain name holder whose name was placed on hold pursuant to NSI’s dispute policy

  • summary judgment granted by 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20453 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 30 1998)
  • aff’d, 243 F.3d 546 (9th Cir. 2000)
  • reported in full at 2000 U.S. App. LEXIS 33496 (9th Cir. Dec. 13, 2000)

Bird v. Parsons

289 F.3d 865 (6th Cir. May 21, 2002), available at http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/6th/02a0177p.html.

Dismissing claims against domain name registrar and domain name auction site because they do not “use” the trademark.

DataBase Consultants, Inc. v. Network Solutions, Inc.

(N.D. Tex. Apr. 23, 1997) (Stipulation)

Ford Motor Co. v. Greatdomains.com, Inc.

2001 WL 1176319 (E.D. Mich. Sept. 25, 2001)

§230(c) does not preempt trademark claims.

Gov’t Employees Ins. Co. (GEICO) v. Google, Inc.

  • 330 F. Supp. 2d 700 (E.D. Va. Aug. 25, 2004).  Search engine selling keywords is trademark “use.”
  • August 2005: displaying trademark-triggered ads, where the trademark does not appear in the text of the ad, does not create likelihood of confusion.

Giacalone v. Network Solutions, Inc.

1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20807 (N.D. Cal. 1996).

Google Inc. v. Am. Blind & Wallpaper Factory

2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6228 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 30, 2005).

Denying motion to dismiss in trademark suit based on search engine selling keywords.

Gucci Am., Inc. v. Hall & Assocs.

135 F. Supp. 2d 409 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 14, 2001), available at http://www.Loundy.com/CASES/Gucci_v_Hall.html.

Rejecting §230 as a defense to contributory trademark infringement.

KnowledgeNet, Inc. v. Boone

Case No. 94-7195 (N.D. Ill. 1994)

Case settled in 1995.

Kremen v. Cohen

  • 99 F. Supp. 2d 1168 (N.D. Cal. May 5, 2000)

Dismissing NSI from a lawsuit over sex.com

A domain name can be converted.

Lockheed Martin Corp. v. Network Solutions, Inc.

  • 1997 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10314 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 19, 1997)
  • summary judgment granted by 985 F. Supp. 949 (C.D. Cal. 1997)
  • aff’d, 194 F.3d 980 (9th Cir. 1999)

NSI not liable for contributory trademark infringement

  • 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5459 (N.D. Tex. May 1, 2001)

Lockheed lost a separate action under ACPA.

Network Solutions, Inc. v. Clue Computing, Inc.

946 F. Supp. 858 (D. Colo. Oct. 29, 1996).

Panavision Int’l L.P. v. Toeppen

  • 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20744 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 27, 1996)
  • aff’d, 141 F.3d 1316 (9th Cir. 1998).

Perfect 10, Inc. v CCBill, LLC

340 F. Supp. 2d 1077 (C.D. Cal. June 22, 2004)

§230 does not cover state trademark claims.

Perfect 10, Inc. v. Visa Int’l Serv. Assoc.

  • Case No. 04-0371 JW (N.D. Cal. Aug. 5, 2004)

No contributory or vicarious trademark liability for financial payment processor

Playboy Enters., Inc. v. Netscape Commun. Corp.

354 F.3d 1020 (9th Cir. 2004), available at http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/8DB030E8186C4EA388256E1A0082DB5E/$file/0056648.pdf?openelement/

Failing to distinguish between an advertiser’s liability for trademark infringement and a publisher’s.  Case settled February 2004.

Pike v. Network Solutions Inc.

Case 96-CV-4256 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 25, 1996).

Roadrunner Computer Sys., Inc. v. Network Solutions, Inc.

Civil Docket No. 96-413-A (E.D. Va. 1996), available at http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/Roadrunner_v_InterNIC/roadrunner_summary_judgement.opposition.

Seven Words LLC v. Network Solutions, Inc.

D.C. No. CV-99-06722-SVW (9th Cir. Aug. 13, 2001), available at http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/C215511E2598318E88256AA7005B0509/$file/9956909.pdf?openelement.

Dismissing a lawsuit over NSI’s refusal to register certain dirty words.

Size, Inc. v. Network Solutions, Inc.

255 F. Supp. 2d 568 (E.D. Va. Apr. 1, 2003)

NSI not liable for contributory trademark infringement based on how a domain name was used/assigned because NSI is merely a routing service.

U-Haul Int’l, Inc. v. WhenU.com, Inc.

279 F. Supp. 2d 723 (E.D. Va. Sept. 5, 2003).

Wells Fargo & Co v. WhenU.com, Inc.

293 F. Supp. 2d 734 (E.D. Mich. Nov. 19, 2003).

Worldsport Networks Ltd. v. Artinternet

  • 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6080 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 28, 1999)

Requiring NSI to prescreen registrations for a limited number of words

  • amended by 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 3, 2000)
  • amended by 2000 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18 (E.D. Pa. Jan. 3, 2000).

Zurakov v. Register.com, Inc.

  • Case No. 600703/01 (N.Y. Gen. Term July 25, 2001)

Dismissing a claim by a domain name registrant over Register.com’s practice of displaying ads on the “coming soon” page