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By Nathan Geronimo

Kinbook, LLC, an online social networking company, recently sued Microsoft for unfair competition and reverse trademark infringement in United States District Court.  (Kinbook, LLC v. Microsoft Corp.,2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8570.) Kinbook created a Facebook application called “Kinbox,” which allows Facebook users to create private sub-social networks for sharing of information within a subset of their list of Facebook friends.  Kinbox was formally launched on Facebook in December 2009, and Kinbook’s use of the Kinbox mark was approved in September 2010.

In November 2010 Microsoft released “Kinect,” a motion-sensor interface device for the XBOX 360 that allows users to control the XBOX 360 through gestures and voice commands.  In April 2010, Microsoft released the “Kin” phone, a mobile smart phone for use with the Verizon Wireless mobile phone service.  Microsoft stopped production of the Kin after just two months due to a lack of consumer demand for the product.Continue Reading Court Finds Kinect and Kinbox Not Kinected

By Zachary Wadlé

In my last column of 2011 I wrote about the proposed “Stop Online Piracy Act” (“SOPA”) introduced in the United States Congress to provide the government with enhanced, but highly controversial, tools to fight online copyright infringement. As I noted, SOPA “spawned a fierce public relations and lobbying battle between Silicon Valley and Hollywood that will play out in the media and in the halls of Congress in the months to come.” Despite the spotty record of my predictive powers, these words turned out to be prescient. The debate over SOPA has blown up in recent weeks, culminating with Wikipedia’s (and many other well-known internet sites) decision to black out their website on January 19, 2012. Google got in on the act too by “censoring” the Google logo on its homepage, (but still allowing use of its search engine and all other Google web services).

The online blackout led by Wikipedia had an immediate effect. The next day, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, postponed critical votes on SOPA (and its companion Senate Bill – the “Protect Intellectual Property Act” or “PIPA”). Rumors swirled that Reid did not have the necessary 60 votes in the Senate to move the legislation past a key procedural hurdle, and Smith said, “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy.” For now, the legislation is tabled for further negotiation and re-drafting in light of the substantial criticism from internet heavyweights.Continue Reading ONLINE PIRACY WAR HEATS UP

By Nathan Geronimo

People are better connected with friends and family than ever before.  Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter can be an excellent way to stay in touch with loved ones, and to get daily updates of people’s lives.  Similarly, through sites such as YouTube, people are able to share videos and information with others almost instantaneously.  While these sites can be great to disseminate images and information to a desired audience, they can also make information readily available to audiences that are less desirable to, and not contemplated by the poster.  There has been a great deal of buzz in recent years about employers using social media sites to perform “background checks” on prospective employees, and warning job applicants to be conscious of this fact when posting on social media sites.  In addition to this concern, recent cases illustrate a possible new concern for social media posters: use of social media posts in litigation.

In a recent decision in Louisiana, Boudwin v. General Ins. Co., Plaintiffs sued an individual and an insurance company based on alleged injuries arising out of a car accident.  In the lower Court, Plaintiff’s prevailed on the question of liability, but were unsatisfied with the jury awards of $25, 000 to the first Plaintiff, and $50,000 to the second Plaintiff.  On appeal, Plaintiffs argued that the jury erred in failing to award them any damages for physical disability or loss of enjoyment of life.  To recover based on a theory of detrimental lifestyle change, a court looks at both the severity of the injury, and Plaintiff’s lifestyle prior to the injury.Continue Reading Involved in Litigation? Be Careful What You Post Online

By Zachary Wadlé

On Oct. 26, 2011, the Stop Online Piracy Act “SOPA” (H.R. 3261) was introduced in the United States House of Representatives. One of SOPA’s primary goals is to address the continuing problem of online digital piracy of counterfeit movie, music, and other copyrightable works engaged in through foreign websites. 

The 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and the Copyright Act of 1976 are the primary existing U.S. laws that address copyright infringement, but both have limited ability to address foreign based websites that engage in digital piracy. SOPA attacks this problem by giving both government officials and copyright owners new powers to target foreign websites and infringers through the search engines, web hosts, and payment system providers that allow foreign websites to reach the U.S. market. Continue Reading Hollywood and Silicon Valley Spar Over Proposed “Stop Online Piracy Act”

By Dale Campbell

The Ninth Circuit has attempted to end the disputes arising from the creation of Facebook. As dramatized in the Hollywood blockbuster, The Social Network, the Winklevoss twins and other Harvard graduates claimed that Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook from them. The Winklevosses claimed they conceived and created the idea for a social network, then known as Harvard Connection and later as ConnectU, and hired Zuckerberg to complete the programming.

The Winklevosses claimed that Zuckerberg was involved in all aspects of the website development and business planning for Harvard Connection and acted as a member of the Harvard Connection development team. Zuckerberg was allegedly entrusted with the basic idea for the project and enterprise, including database and website design. Moreover, the Winkelvosses alleged that Zuckerberg was provided information regarding the website’s business model, functionality, concepts, and information to be collected from users. The Winklevosses alleged that Zuckerberg utilized all of this information in creating Facebook and failed to advise the Winklevosses that he had stopped working on the Harvard Connection code but, instead, was developing a competing website. The complaint alleged a variety of business torts including copyright infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, and interference with prospective economic advantage. Continue Reading At Some Point, Litigation Must Come To an End