Couric Perkily Poised to Jump to Yahoo!

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fresh from luring David Pogue from the New York Times (see "TUOL" post 10/22/13), Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer's latest coup is expected to be formally announced today--Katie Couric will join the Internet Service Provider as its global news anchor, according to the Allthingsd.com Web site.

Couric is presently wrapping up the second season of her ABC-syndicated talk show, Katie, which she signed onto for a three-year haul in 2012 reportedly for a cool $20 million (see "TUOL" post 6/6/11). Previously, she anchored the CBS Evening News for five years and co-hosted NBC's Today. "Katie" is sagging in the ratings but is still among the highest for syndicated programs.

She is expected to conduct online interviews of prominent politicians, celebrities and business leaders forYahoo! The ISP already is the online news partner of ABC News. "Katie's Take," already is featured on Yahoo! and features re-jiggered content from her talk show.

ABC, which is owned by the Walt Disney Co., reportedly holds rights to Couric's digital outpouring for the life of the three-year contract, which is probably among the many "t's & i's" being crossed and dotted in preparation for today's formal announcement.

Spanish Court Tells ISPs to Shut Off the Limelight

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAn interesting post by the Internetdefamationlawblog.com reports on a case in Spain that highlights the different approach European courts take to defamation and privacy cases than their American counterparts.

Google was ordered by a court in Spain to remove from its index information about a private individual. Specifically, in 1991, an article critical of plastic surgeon Dr. Hugo Guidotti Russo was published by a Spanish newspaper concerning a dispute with a patient. The article in question did not assess the merits of the patient's complaint or address the resolution of the claim.

Dr. Russo, backed by the Spanish Data Protection Agency("SDPA") and a Spanish court, sought the removal of the decade-old article by Google, which he claimed detracted from his on-going medical practice when it surfaced in Google searches. Google screamed censorship and refused to do so. Whereas in the U.S., there is no expiration date once an individual is in the limelight as a public figure, Spain, as do many of its European Union compadres, abide by a doctrine known as "the right to be forgotten."

Interestingly, the SDPA previously has exempted Internet Service Providers from coverage by Spain's freedom of expression laws that protect newspapers and other publications. Google contends the onus should be on publications that provide Internet content to embed coding alerting ISPs not to index the data.

Federal Judge Stays Order Identifying Anonymous Wikipedia Editors in Trademark Infringement Case

Image via WikipediaUnited States District Court Judge for the District of Colorado Christine Arguello this week stayed a magistrate's order that would have required  Internet Service Provider Skybeam to disclose the identities of anonymous Wikipedia editors who claimed Facconable USA Corporation sympathized with a terrorist organization.

In Facconable USA Corporation v. John Does 1-10 (Case No. 1:11-cv-00941-CMA-BNB), the plaintiff, part of the M1 Group owned by Najib Makati, Lebanon's Prime Minister, sued anonymous posters who submitted an entry on the company's Wikipedia page alleging that Facconable USA Corp.'s parent M1 Group "is purported to be a strong supporter of Hezbollah," according to Courthouse News Service.  The plaintiff's 9-page complaint includes counts alleging a trademark infringement violation of the Lanham Act [15 U.S.C. sec. 1125(a)], trade libel and violation of Colorado's Consumer Protection Act [C.R.S. sec. 6-1-101 et seq.].

A magistrate granted plaintiff's request for expedited discovery, ordering ISP Skybeam to reveal the IP addresses identifying the anonymous posters by June 3.  Skybeam, assisted by Public Citizen, sought judicial review of the denial of their motion for a protective order.

Judge Arguello granted a stay of the magistrate's order, relying on four factors: 1)the likelihood of success of the ISP's appeal; 2)whether irreparable harm would occur if the stay were denied; 3)the absence of harm to opposing parties if the stay were granted and 4)the risk of harm to the public interest. Judge Arguello concluded the anonymous posters' First Amendment rights to speak anonymously would be compromised if the magistrate's order went forward, whereas the only harm to the plaintiff in allowing the stay would be a slight delay of its litigation.

AOL: You've Got Merger!

Image via CrunchBaseNew York-based Internet Service Provider America Online may breakup and merge with Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo, Inc., according to an exclusive story by Reuters News Service.

In Dec. 2009, AOL was spun off by entertainment conglomerate Time Warner to Time Warner shareholders. The Reuters article suggests that Yahoo has the resources to support AOL's display ad business. Neither entity would confirm the possible merger to Reuters.