Ambika Kumar Doran

The Yes Men
Ongoing
Defending the free speech rights of the Yes Men against trademark claims filed after the Yes Men performed a political parody of the Chamber's controversial position on global climate change.

Adams County Historical Society
2009

Secured unanimous decision from the Nebraska Supreme Court making historic burial records from the state's largest mental health cemetery publicly available. Over objections by the Nebraska Attorney General and reversing more than a century of secrecy, the Nebraska Supreme Court, interpreting state and federal privacy law, held that the names of some 1,400 former patients buried between 1890 and 1959 at the Hastings Regional Center are public under the state's Public Records Act.

Sentry Insurance
2009
Defense of claims for copyright infringement and breach of license agreement arising out of alleged copying of software. Obtained dismissal of breach of license claim as preempted by Copyright Act; case successfully settled shortly thereafter.

Media defendants
2009
In federal court, represented media defendants accused by the plaintiff of defamation. Defendants won a dismissal with prejudice on grounds that the two-year statute of limitations had expired. The dismissal was affirmed by the 9th Circuit in March 2010.

EducationDynamics
2009
Defended EducationDynamics in case alleging that the company violated the CAN-SPAM Act. The claims were settled.

Cable News Network (CNN)
2009
Obtained dismissal of federal civil rights lawsuit challenging editorial content on CNN.com.

Kaspersky Lab, Inc
2009
Summary judgment dismissing lawsuit against distributor of anti-malware products, recognizing "robust" immunity under 47 U.S.C. § 230(c)(2) enabling consumer access to information about potentially "objectionable" software. In 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit affirmed the lower court's 2007 dismissal.

Media clients of Davis Wright Tremaine
2008
Submitted amicus brief on behalf of media amici in 9th Circuit's en banc review of the scope of immunity afforded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to mixed-content websites.

The Seattle Times Company
2008
Represented the Seattle Times in an unusual lawsuit alleging civil rights violations arising from the newspaper's coverage of a recruiting scandal involving two high school basketball coaches. The district court granted the Times' motion to dismiss because it concluded that there were no valid allegations of conspiracy or of interference in contractual relations stemming from news coverage.

AVVO
2007
Defended attorney evaluation website. Court granted motion to dismiss on First Amendment opinion grounds, also holding that distribution of information is not “commerce” under state consumer protection laws.

The Franklin Mint
2007
Defense of copyright infringement action involving use of photographs in promotional materials for model airplanes. Obtained favorable confidential settlement.