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Key Milestones In Social Media Law

KEY MOMENTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA LAW Presented by the Editors of the Socially Aware Blog January 17, 1984 The U.S. Supreme Court decides Sony v. Universal, finding that Sony was shielded from copyright liability arising from infringing uses of its Betamax video recording device where such device was capable of substantial non-infringing uses. This decision has allowed device manufacturers and service providers to flourish in the digital era. Perhaps the most important technology law case in this country's history. February 8, 1996 President Clinton signs the Communications Decency Act into law, creating a safe harbor that provides broad (but not unlimited) protection for interactive computer service providers from liability arising from information posted by a third party. Thanks to this safe harbor, bloggers and website operators are not routinely driven out of business by defamation lawsuits arising from user-posted comments, no matter how outrageous those comments may be. P) July 23, 1998 In State Street Bank & Trust Co. v. Signature Financial Group, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit holds that business methods can be protected under patent law. This decision opens the floodgates for "patent trolls" and a generation of CEO-inventors (such as Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com CEO and well-known co-inventor of "one-click" shopping). October 28, 1998 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act goes into effect, establishing certain safe harbors shielding online service providers from monetary damages for copyright infringement; one of these safe harbors provides protection in connection with the hosting of user-generated content, thereby paving the way for the rise of social media. June 27, 2005 June 27, 2006 The U.S. Supreme Court decides MGM Studios v. MySpace modifies its online terms of service in response to the uproar created by U.K. singer-songwriter Billy Bragg's highly public removal of his songs from MySpace.com in protest of the website's terms of service. MySpace's revised terms of service clarified that artists Grokster, holding that, where Grokster distributed its P2P file sharing software with the objective of promoting its use to infringe copyright, Grokster could not seek protection from copyright liability under the Sony-Betamax "substantial noninfringing use" doctrine. retained the rights to their works, and explained why MySpace required certain licenses from artists. February 2008 The Winklevoss twins settle their 2004 lawsuit the social network against Facebook, reportedly at a value of $65 million. The lawsuit, dramatized in the movie The Social Network, alleged that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had misappropriated the idea for Facebook from Winklevosses' social media venture, ConnectU. Further litigation subsequently erupted over the settlement, and it was not until April 2011 that the Ninth Circuit brought an end to the legal wrangling, upholding the parties' 2008 settlement. March 2008 Two Texas lawyers separately sue Cisco and one of its in-house IP attomeys for alleged defamation in connection . with the in-house attorney's anonymous postings on the Patent Troll Tracker blog. The Cisco employee made the posts – alleging possible misconduct by opposing counsel in a Cisco-related patent dispute – without his employer's knowledge, but Cisco was nevertheless dragged into the litigation. In September 2009, Cisco settled Albritton v. Cisco after four days of trial. The second lawsuit was settled on January 8, 2010. CISCO. December 30, 2008 Facebook sues Power.com for collecting and re-purposing Facebook user information on the Power.com website while circumventing Facebook's developer platform. After dismissal of Power.com's counterclaims against Facebook for "anticompetitive" behavior, Power.com shut down its service in April 2011, and the domain name went up for auction in July 2011. February 6, 2009 Facebook changes its online terms of service to include a broad, perpetual license to user-generated content. Twelve days later, after extensive user backlash and a threatened complaint by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Facebook rolls back the changes. March 26, 2009 The first-ever defamation lawsuit arising from a tweet is filed against Courtney Love, following a heated exchange between the rock star and a fashion designer on Twitter. The case, Simorangkir v. Love, was settled in March 2011. October 5, 2009 July 2, 2009 Revised FTC "Guides Concerning the Use Lori Drew, whose online of Endorsements and Testimonials" are cyber-bullying behavior allegedly led to the suicide of a 13-year-old Megan Meier, is acquitted of all charges. The case highlighted the perils of unmonitored social published, addressing sharp practices in connection with blogs and other social networking sites. The Guides provide that where a blogger receives free products or services from a company, and then subsequently endorses the company's products or services, the blogger must disclose the earlier received gifts; if such gifts are not disclosed, both the blogger and the company may be engaged in an unfair or deceptive practice under the FTC Act. networking by minors, as well as the practical limits of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, an anti-hacking statute that formed the basis May 14, 201o of the prosecution's case against Drew. Google announces that its vehicles used for photographing streets for Google Maps inadvertently collected personal information being transferred over open WiFi networks. The collection triggered a host of class action lawsuits, as well as regulatory action in many of the 30+ countries where the vehicles June 30, 2010 Paul Ceglia sues Facebook for an 84% ownership stake based on an alleged 2003 services agreement with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. In June 2011, law firm DLA Piper withdraws from its representation of Ceglia. In November 2011, Ceglia were operating. June 23, 2010 was ordered to return Ireland to produce additional evidence in the case. The District Court for the Southern District of New York decides Viacom v. YouTube, finding that YouTube's hosting of infringing user-generated videos is protected under one of the DMCA's safe harbors from copyright damages. Currently on appeal to the Second Circuit, a reversal could create major headaches for social media companies dependent on user-generated content to attract traffic and ad revenues. 84% OWNERSHIP August 26, 2010 PR firm Reverb Communications settles FTC deceptive advertising charges for writing positive iTunes reviews for its clients' mobile apps without disclosing it was paid to promote such apps. The charges were the FTC's first enforcement action aimed at targeting the deceptive practices outlined in the 2009 revised FTC Guides. FULL DISCLOSURE October 27, 2010 May 19, 2011 The National Labor Relations Board files a complaint against an ambulance service provider, alleging that the company illegally terminated an employee for making derogatory remarks on her Facebook page regarding her supervisor. The NLRB also alleged that the company's social media policy was overly restrictive and violated federal labor law. Although the dispute was ultimately settled, the NLRB's complaint served as a wake-up call for employers regarding the need to ensure that their social media policies do not interfere with their employees' protected legal rights. Linkedln successfully completes its initial public offering, becoming the first major U.S. social media site to be publicly traded. Other social media sites – including Angie's List, Groupon, Pandora, Zillow and Żynga – followed suit during 2011. RE LABOR November 29, 2011 Facebook agrees to settle its dispute with the FTC over changes that Facebook unilaterally made to users' privacy settings in December 2009. Under the FTC's proposed settlement order, Facebook's privacy practices would be subject to extensive FTC oversight. Courtesy of Socially Aware, the social media law update. Our blog is located at www.sociallyawareblog.com. You can also follow us on Twitter @MoFoSocMedia. For a free subscription to our newsletter, please visit www.mofo.com/sociallyaware. The information provided herein does not constitute legal advice, and should not be acted upon; always obtain specific legal advice based on particular situations. The views expressed herein shall not be attributed to Morrison & Foerster, its attorneys or clients. We are Morrison & Foerster-a global firm of exceptional credentials in many areas. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, Fortune 100 companies, investment banks and technology and life sciences companies. Our clients count on us for innovative and business-minded solutions. Our commitment to serving client needs has resulted in enduring relationships and a record of high achievement. For the last eight years, we've been included on The American Lawyer's A-List. Fortune named us one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For." Our lawyers share a commitment to achieving results for our clients, while preserving the differences that make us stronger. This is MoFo. MORRISON FOERSTER ©2012 Morrison & Foerster LLP| mofo.com LATIONS BOARD

Key Milestones In Social Media Law

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The timeline begins appropriately in 1984 with Sony v. Universal Studios, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the VCR manufacturer was not liable for consumers using the Betamax video recorder to...

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