Facebook Takes a Page from Ticketmaster’s Playbook: Block Unauthorized Web Site Access with Carefully Drafted Terms of Use
27 05 2009In 2007, Ticketmaster brought a multi-count complaint against RMG Technologies, a software company that supplied ticket brokers with software that enabled them to automatically and rapidly access Ticketmaster’s Web site, to the detriment of ordinary users seeking tickets to popular events. The Ticketmaster v. RMG complaint was notable for stating a series of claims that leveraged the allegation that RMG’s access to the Web site for the purpose of creating its software, as well as the subsequent use of the software, violated the Ticketmaster Terms of Use and was thus unauthorized. . . . Ticketmaster succeeded in obtaining a preliminary injunction against the distribution of the software and a .2 million default judgment against RMG.
In December 2008, Facebook filed a similarly framed complaint against Power Ventures, the operator of Power.com, an online service that allows social networking users to access all of their accounts through one interface. In Facebook, Inc. v. Power Ventures, Inc. (N.D. Cal. May 11, 2009), Judge Jeremy Fogel denied Power Ventures’s motion to dismiss Facebook’s claims of copyright infringement, violation of the anticircumvention provisions of the DMCA, and violation of federal and state trademark infringement laws for failure to state a claim. . . .
The content in this post was found at http://newmedialaw.proskauer.com/2009/05/articles/contracts/facebook-takes-a-page-from-ticketmasters-playbook-block-unauthorized-web-site-access-with-carefully-drafted-terms-of-use/ and was not authored by the moderators of freeforafee.com. Clicking the title link will take you to the source of the post.
