The Internet has changed our lives and our laws. Technology has put the world at our fingertips and now allows even the smallest business to reach customers around the globe. Because the Internet allows the world to “pass around notes” so quickly, as Jon Stewart joked, it presents a variety of challenges for the law. Courts are often in uncharted waters when deciding disputes that involve the Internet, social media, and online privacy. Paralegal Power Breaks are short information packed sessions that provide useful career information to paralegals at all career levels. ​

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BUSINESS LAW TODAY
INTERNET LAW
Roger LeRoy Miller
Copyright © 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

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Internet Law,
Social Media, and Privacy
Outline
• 7-1 Internet Law
• 7-2 Copyrights in Digital Information
• 7-3 Social Media
• 7-4 Online Defamation
• 7-5 Privacy

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Learning Objectives (slide 1 of 2)
1. What is cybersquatting, and when is
it illegal?
2. What steps have been taken to
protect intellectual property rights in
the digital age?
3. When does the law protect a person’s
electronic communications from
being intercepted or accessed?

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Learning Objectives (slide 2 of 2)
4. What law governs whether Internet
service providers are liable for online
defamatory statements made by
users?

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7-1c Cybersquatting (slide 1 of 2)
– Case Example 7.2 WIPO Case No.
D2012-0951
– Anticybersquatting Legislation
1. The domain name is identical or confusingly
similar to the trademark of another.
2. The one registering, trafficking in, or using the
domain name has a “bad faith intent” to profit
from that trademark.

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7-1c Cybersquatting (slide 1 of 2)
– Cybersquatting and the Domain Name
Distribution System
• Case Example 7.3 OnNet USA, Inc. v. Play9D.com
(2013)
– Typosquatting
– Applicability and Sanctions of the ACPA

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7-1d Meta Tags
– Key words that give Internet browsers
specific information about a Web page.
– Using another’s trademark in a meta tag
without the owner’s permission normally
constitutes trademark infringement.
– Case Example 7.5 Toyota Motor Sales,
U.S.A., Inc. v. Tabari (2010)

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7-1e Trademark Dilution in the
Online World
– Trademark dilution occurs when a
trademark is used, without authorization,
in a way that diminishes the distinctive
quality of the mark.

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7-2 Copyrights in Digital
Information
 7-2a Copyright Infringement
• Case Example 7.6 Bridgeport Music, Inc. v.
Dimension Films (2005)
 7-2b MP3 and File-Sharing
Technology
– Methods of File-Sharing
– Sharing Stored Music Files
• Case Example 7.8 A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster,
Inc. (2001); Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v
Grokster, Ltd. (2005)
• Case Example 7.9 Maverick Recording Co. v.

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Landmark in the Law
 The Digital Millennium Copyright Act
 Without the DMCA copyright owners
would have a more difficult time
obtaining legal redress against those
who decrypt or copy copyrighted
materials.

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7-3a Uses in the Legal Process
– Administrative Agencies
• Federal regulators also use social media posts in
their investigations into illegal activities.
• Case Example 7.16 In re O’Brien (2013)
– Employers’ Social Media Policies
• Case Example 7.17 Rodriquez v. Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc. (2013)

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7-3b The Electronic
Communications Privacy Act
– Prohibits the intentional interception of any
wire, oral, or electronic communication.
– It also prohibits the intentional disclosure or
use of the information obtained by the
interception.
– Exclusions
– Stored Communications
• Case Example 7.18 Pietrylo v. Hillstone
Restaurant Group (2009)

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7-4 Online Defamation
 7-4a Identifying the Author of Online
Defamation
– An initial issue raised by online defamation is
simply discovering who is committing it.
– An Internet service provider can disclose
personal information about its customers
only when ordered to do so by a court.

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7-4b Liability of Internet Service
Providers
– Should ISPs be regarded as publishers and
therefore be held liable for defamatory
messages that are posted by their users in
online forums or other arenas?
– General Rule
– Exceptions
• Case Example 7.20 Fair Housing Council of San
Fernando Valley v. Roommate.com, LLC. (2012)

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7-5 Privacy
 The right to privacy is guaranteed by
the Bill of Rights and some state
constitutions.
 7-5a Reasonable Expectation of
Privacy
 7-5b Data Collection and Cookies
 7-5c Internet Companies’ Privacy
Policies
 7-5d Protecting Consumer Privacy