News & Media
Tax Prep Company Tries To Sue Unhappy Customer Into Silence; Hit With Damages In Anti-SLAPP Order
Pamela Boling (represented by Marc Randazza) hired IQTaxx to prepare her taxes, including the filing of a hardship notice. IQTaxx failed to do so. Boling turned to Yelp and left a review detailing her experience with the company. Shortly thereafter, IQTaxx sent a cease-and-desist to Boling over her “exaggerated emotional rant review.” Defamation does not cover exaggerations or emotional rants,
"Kosovo’s Digital Independence: Time for Kosovo’s ccTLD" by Marc Randazza
Eddie Izzard famously said “no flag, no country.” However, in this age, a flag is not the most important prerequisite for independence. In fact, the concept of “independence” now includes “Digital Independence.” Kosovo deserves to have full recognition of its independence — including in cyberspace. Kosovo gained territorial and de facto political independence. Nevertheless, ICANN refuses to pay it the respect
Big Anti-SLAPP Win for TMZ Against Dan Bilzerian
Last year, Dan Bilzerian sued the Dirty World for publishing a story about a woman who alleged Bilzerian gave her an STD. The media news website TMZ posted an article about the lawsuit, and Bilzerian immediately amended his initial complaint to include TMZ as a defendant, alleging TMZ’s article was false and defamatory. Randazza Legal Group filed an Anti-SLAPP motion on behalf of TMZ,
Big Win for TMZ & Nevada Anti-SLAPP law
Last year, Dan Bilzerian, professional poker player and Instagram playboy, sued gossip website “The Dirty World” for publishing a story about a woman who alleged Bilzerian gave her Chlamydia. The media news website TMZ posted an article about the lawsuit, and Bilzerian amended his initial complaint to include TMZ as a defendant, alleging TMZ’s article was false and defamatory. Of
Attorney Marc Randazza Beats Bad Business for Suing Yelp Reviewer
(Pace Vegas) Pamela Boling probably didn’t expect to end up in court when she hired iQTAXX to assist with filing special paperwork with the IRS. However, when she found out that they hadn’t done the work they promised and she had paid for, she turned to YELP to get assistance, posting a negative review and her personal experience. That’s how
Randazza on Above the Law’s "Thinking Like a Lawyer"
On Above the Law’s “Thinking Like a Lawyer,” Elie and First Amendment Lawyer Marc Randazza talk about the Hulk Hogan verdict, the right to be forgotten, and how Europe seems to be getting along just fine without ruining everybody’s Google footprints. Listen to the full discussion here.
‘The dice were loaded in Hulk Hogan’s favor,’ Randazza says of the Gawker trial
A Florida jury decided on Friday evening that Gawker Media must pay Hulk Hogan, aka Terry Bollea, $115 million in damages after running a portion of sex tape of the famous wrestler on its site. The case centers on a 2012 post by former Gawker editor A.J. Daulerio, in which he posted an edited section of a sex tape filmed without Bollea’s
Violence and Political Speech
My most recent CNN Column discusses violence in political settings. See Defend Donald Trump’s right to free speech I don’t get to write my own headlines, ok? Some good people think that sometimes being violent is ok. What they don’t understand is that when we use violence in politics, no matter what, the bad people always win. They get to
A fabulous Roman candle exploding like a spider across the stars
On March 12th, 1922, the universe lit the fuse on the roman candle of the existence of one Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac. Somewhere along the line after that there were girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl was handed to him, but like so many that stand at the center when the blue light pops, the pearl drops into
The USPTO Would Prefer Not to Follow the First Amendment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BMsDJrjZHY The USPTO is, apparently, a big Melville crowd. In December, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided In re Tam, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 22593 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 22, 2015). In it, the Federal Circuit made a sweeping pronouncement that the First Amendment applies to trademark registrations, and that a long-criticized prohibition on “disparaging” trademarks could no
Defend Donald Trump’s right to free speech
(CNN) Is Donald Trump finally learning about the meaning of free speech? Other candidates might be bad for free speech once elected. But Trump is the only candidate to actually campaign to reduce our First Amendment rights. This is the guy who said, “There used to be consequences to protesting. There are none anymore. These people are so bad for our
Randazza: Violence and Political Speech
My most recent CNN Column discusses violence in political settings. See Defend Donald Trump’s right to free speech I don’t get to write my own headlines, ok? Some good people think that sometimes being violent is ok. What they don’t understand is that when we use violence in politics, no matter what, the bad people always win. They get to
Randazza: A fabulous Roman candle exploding like a spider across the stars
On this day in 1922, the universe lit the fuse on the roman candle of the existence of one Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac. Somewhere along the line after that there were girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl was handed to him, but like so many that stand at the center when the blue light pops, the pearl
Randazza: The USPTO Would Prefer Not to Follow the First Amendment
The USPTO is, apparently, a big Melville crowd. In December, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided In re Tam, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 22593 (Fed. Cir. Dec. 22, 2015). In it, the Federal Circuit made a sweeping pronouncement that the First Amendment applies to trademark registrations, and that a long-criticized prohibition on “disparaging” trademarks could no longer
Something Doesn’t Click Here
A Missouri professor has gotten more than her share of negative pixels this year. I actually decided after my last column on her that I was done writing about her. Even when she claimed that her now-infamous plea for “some muscle over here” was not the real her. I resisted. “I try to remember that’s only one moment of a
Randazza: Something Doesn’t Click Here
A Missouri professor has gotten more than her share of negative pixels this year. I actually decided after my last column on her that I was done writing about her. Even when she claimed that her now-infamous plea for “some muscle over here” was not the real her. I resisted. “I try to remember that’s only one moment of a
The Hulk Hogan Sex Tape Case
Marc Randazza was quoted in Business Insider today about the first amendment issues in the Hulk Hogan sex tape suit against Gawker Media. Hulk Hogan’s sex tape is hardly the Pentagon Papers, but the outlet might have had a right to publish the clip even if it wasn’t in the best taste. “I could see maybe posting a few seconds to show it’s
Is the First Amendment safe from Donald Trump?
I write this as someone who was willing to vote for Trump. This gives me great pause…. Donald Trump has said a lot of strange things — some funny, some creepy, but none scarier than what he said on Friday: that if he is elected president, he will “open up our libel laws” to make it easier to sue the
Pirate Apprenticeships
by Jay Marshall Wolman How quaint the ways of Paradox! At common sense she gaily mocks! Though counting in the usual way, Years twenty-one I’ve been alive. Yet, reckoning by my natal day, Yet, reckoning by my natal day, I am a little boy of five! -The Pirates of Penzance, “When You had Left Our Pirate Fold” In Gilbert &
Randazza: Is the First Amendment safe from Donald Trump?
I write this as someone who was willing to vote for Trump. This gives me great pause…. Donald Trump has said a lot of strange things — some funny, some creepy, but none scarier than what he said on Friday: that if he is elected president, he will “open up our libel laws” to make it easier to sue the
