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Internet businesses that are more that passive host sites should take note that a French court found that eBay is a “publisher of online brokering services” because it goes beyond “purely
technical, automatic and passive [site host] services.” As a result it ruled that eBay did not qualify for the host services infringement liability exception.

For example, the court found that eBay suggests purchases based on
visitors’ previous purchases, and it enables sellers to employ
cross-merchandising and to obtain litigation settlement services for payment or
delivery disputes.The court found that eBay profited from the sale of counterfeit Hermès bags because it received commissions on such sales amounts and that its site did not  have a passive
and automatic role. The court highlighted the fact that eBay “exercises a determining action on the content
of advertisements, in that it reuses, on its own initiative, information aimed
at attracting buyers” and that it misused Hermès trademarks by allowing users to list items, present them in an attractive way
and route potential buyers to other Hermès offers.

Join Pillsbury for an evening with social game entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and legal analysts. This event will cover a number of recent trends and changes in social gaming business models. We will also discuss the current venture climate, what VCs are looking for in a social gaming company and ways to position emerging companies for investment. Finally, we will discuss the key legal issues associated with this emerging industry and review the key intellectual property due diligence factors that are critical to current and future financing.

June 1, 2010
Agenda
6:00 – 6:50 pm Registration & Networking (Appetizers will be served)
6:50 – 7:00 pm Welcome and Introductions
7:00 – 8:30 pm Panel Discussion and Q&A
8:30 – 9:00 pm Networking
Speakers include:
James Gatto, Partner, Pillsbury Keith McCurdy, Digital Media Executive, Entrepreneur and Board Member Jeremy Liew, Managing Director, Lightspeed Venture Partners Phil Sanderson, Managing Director, IDG Ventures SF

Pillsbury’s Silicon Valley office 2475 Hanover Street Palo Alto, CA 94304

Pillsbury is proud to announce a writing competition on legal issues relating to virtual worlds. Participants can elect to write a paper on a topic within one of the categories listed in the document attached. The papers must be submitted by June 30, 2010 and will be judged by members of Pillsbury’s Virtual Worlds team. Judges will select a best paper in each of the five categories, including a best overall paper. The best overall paper will be awarded $2000. The best paper in each of the other categories will be awarded $500. Winning and other notable papers will be recognized right here on our Virtual World Law blog.

Please see additional details and rules and regulations here: Virtual Worlds Writing Competition.pdf.

In what will be the first such case heard by the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land will address in its October term whether a California state law that bans the sale and rental of violent video games to minors runs afoul of the First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourteenth Amendment protections. A petition for certiorari was filed by the State of California after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals nixed the law as being unconstitutional.

At issue are California Civil Code Sections 1746-1746.5, which if enacted, would have imposed restrictions and labeling requirements on the sale of “violent” video games to kids under 18. According to the statute “Violent video game” means a video game in which the range of options available to a player includes killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being (subject to certain limitations). On December 21, 2005, Judge Ronald Whyte ruled the law unconstitutional, preventing it from going into effect, as scheduled, on January 1, 2006. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit also declared the law unconstitutional.

The case is Schwarzenegger v. Video Software Dealers Association (08-1448).