The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has released its opinion in a case between adult web site operator Perfect 10 and a number of Web hosting and credit card processing companies.  The case is significant because it expands the already broad protections of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.  The CDA has been interpreted very broadly to immunize "interactive computer services" (read online service providers) from liability relating to the content that users post  on their sites.  The Ninth Circuit has taken this immunity one step further, by concluding that Section 230 also shields service providers from liability relating to state law claims, such as claims that their user's postings violate common law rights of publicity, and state trademark statutes. 

On a related note, the decision also contains an analysis and discussion pertaining to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and the safe harbor provisions of that Act, further reinforcing the notion that online content providers need not actively police their systems in order to maintain the immunity offered by the DMCA.

All in all, this decision is very important for any company that operates an online business where users can post or upload content.  The moat protecting them from liability for user content keeps getting deeper and wider.  Eric Goldman provides a good detailed analysis of the case at his blog that is worth checking out.