A federal lawsuit was filed against Craigslist today. Cooks County (Illinois) Sheriff Tom Dart is claiming that the hugely popular online classifieds site promotes and facilitates prostitution on a massive scale.

He is looking to get the site to eliminate it’s “erotic services” section, claiming that the sections ads are blatant solicitations for prostitution.

“Missing children, runaways, abused women and women trafficked in from foreign countries are routinely forced to have sex with strangers because they’re being pimped on Craigslist,” Dart said.”

The San Francisco based company did not return e-mail and telephone messages seeking comment.

The company allows users to post classified ad’s and generally does not check erotic postings or remove them until somebody complains. Federal law offers grant immunity to service providers for the content that is posted by users, as long as the company responds to specific complaints.

The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago follows repeated requests for Craigslist to shut down their “Erotic Services” section.

The “Erotic Services” section of Craigslist has made nationwide news resulting from numerous prostitution arrests in the past few months.

“Federal prosecutors charged a New York man in November with being a violent pimp who forced young girls and women into prostitution, alleging he advertised the services of women between the ages of 15 and 20. And in January, two Wisconsin women were charged with misdemeanor prostitution after allegedly offering sex for money in Craigslist ads.”

Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist’s CEO, said at the time that the agreement would allow legitimate escort services to continue advertising, while discouraging illegal activity by requiring anyone posting “erotic services” ads to provide a working phone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card.

Craigslist also agreed to provide that information to law enforcement if subpoenaed.

To view the original article, click here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com, the first online practice guide for the national litigator and the national litigation practice.

Popularity: 6% [?]

A women’s underwear designer from Suffolk, VA is suing Target for patent infringement, claiming that the retail giant ripped off her top selling product.

“Spring & Associates filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia last week, claiming that Target had poached its idea for “Foxers,” a line of women’s underwear with the kind of band usually found on men’s boxer shorts stitched to the top. If you’re having trouble visualizing, you can check them out here, though it’s only moderately safe for work.”

According to the companies founder April Spring, in 2007, a Target representative met with her about the possiblity of the store carrying her brand. Although the company seemed enthusiastic, the deal never went  through,

Last summer she discovered that Target was selling an identical product. Everything that she was going to do for them, from color, to pattern, to lace, to the country she was going to manufacture them in, was identical.

“The 48-year-old says last year her company sold 20,000 pairs of Foxers, mostly through high end boutiques and a deal with department store chain Dillards.”

“Spring has retained counsel from Westerman, Hattori, Daniels & Adrian to represent her in the case. She is seeking an unspecified jury reward.”

A spokesman from Target declined to comment on the case.

To view the original article, click here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com, the first online practice guide for the national litigator and the national litigation practice.

Popularity: 6% [?]