Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

February 01, 2024
Hearst, Photographer Argue In High Court Briefs Over Copyright Discovery Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a reply brief supporting its petition for certiorari, Hearst Newspapers LLC asserts that the U.S. Supreme Court “has never applied a discovery rule to the Copyright Act” and has twice left the question open, representing that the present copyright dispute over the online use of photographs, presents “a simple and clean record” for the court to resolve the “flawed” reasons that circuits have applied the atextual rule.
February 01, 2024
EBay Agrees To $59M Settlement For CSA Violation In Pill Press Machine Sales

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Jan. 31 that eBay Inc. will pay $59 million to settle allegations that it violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) by selling thousands of pill presses and encapsulating machines through its website.
January 31, 2024
SEC Says In Complaint Crypto Ponzi Scheme Swindled Investors Out Of $1.7B

BALTIMORE — A Maryland woman and an Australian man ran a cryptocurrency-based Ponzi scheme that bilked investors around the world out of $1.7 billion, the Securities and Exchange Commission says in a complaint filed in a Maryland federal court.
January 31, 2024
California Panel Says Homeowner’s Online Posts Against Contractor Are Not Protected

LOS ANGELES — A homeowner’s online posts criticizing repair work performed by a general contractor are not protected by litigation privilege because the posts had no substantial relationship to any litigation, a California panel found in affirming the trial court’s decision to deny the homeowner’s motion to strike the contractor’s complaint for libel.
January 30, 2024
Amici Tell Justices Coinbase Cannot Enforce Arbitration Provision

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A trio of scholars, a voluntary bar association and a consumer advocacy organization filed amicus curiae briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 29 supporting a group of sweepstakes entrants who contend that unlawful lottery and unfair competition class claims against Coinbase Inc. are not barred by an arbitration provision because a subsequent forum selection clause within the sweepstakes’ rules established that they did not consent to the superseded arbitration provision.
January 29, 2024
Solicitor General Seeks High Court Argument Time In Social Media 1st Amendment Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amid a flurry of 20 amicus curiae briefs filed in support of the attorneys general of Florida and Texas and those states’ social media anti-censorship laws, U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar filed a motion in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the United States, seeking to participate as amicus in upcoming Feb. 26 oral arguments to address the application of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
January 29, 2024
No Laughing Matter: Dudesy AI Sued Over George Carlin Comedy Video

LOS ANGELES — Individuals using an artificial intelligence created and publicly posted a “click-bait” video of deceased comedian George Carlin without authorization for the use of his likeness or any license to use copyrighted material, the comedian’s representatives allege in a lawsuit filed in California federal court.
January 23, 2024
WhatsApp, NSO Defend Discovery Requests In Spyware Dispute

OAKLAND, Calif. — WhatsApp Inc. asks a California federal court to order defendant NSO Group Technologies Limited to submit documents related to all the different types of spyware that the Israeli company used to spy on its users in a reply brief supporting its motion to compel discovery responses, while the defendant maintains that it is entitled to information about the company that aided the plaintiff in its investigation related to the claimed surveillance of WhatsApp users.
January 23, 2024
Florida, Texas Attorneys General Defend Social Media Laws In Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The attorneys general of Texas and Florida each filed briefs supporting the constitutionality of laws enacted in their respective states that prohibit social media platforms from viewpoint-based censorship of users’ postings, with each attorney general telling the U.S. Supreme Court that the statutes would govern the platforms’ conduct or business practices and not their speech.
January 22, 2024
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Professor’s 1st Amendment Suit Over Blog Post

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A North Carolina State University (NCSU) professor saw his petition for certiorari denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 22, with the high court declining to consider his questions about whether his ouster from a degree program was an adverse employment action in response to a controversial blog post that he authored and whether that post was protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
January 19, 2024
Minor ‘Apex Legends’ Player Not Required To Arbitrate UCL Claim, Panel Says

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California appellate panel affirmed a trial court’s denial of a video game developer’s motion to compel arbitration of a minor’s putative class action claims that it violated the state’s unfair competition law (UCL) by deceptively inducing minors into paying for digital currency to purchase in-game items, finding the arbitration agreement not applicable after the minor disaffirmed his contract with the developer.
January 18, 2024
Federal Judge Delays Trial Between SEC, Crypto Firm In Hopes CEO Can Be Extradited

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York agreed to one postponement of a jury trial in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against cryptocurrency firm Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. and its chief executive officer, who are accused of a large-scale fraud, after the CEO’s counsel said there is a possibility he will be released from custody in Montenegro to attend the trial.
January 17, 2024
High Court Told ‘Chaos’ Will Ensue ‘In A World Without Chevron’ Deference

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court was told Jan. 17 that “chaos” will ensue “in a world without Chevron” deference by government attorneys, who urged it to apply stare decisis and uphold Chevron, which is being challenged in two cases arising out of federal fishing regulations.
January 18, 2024
Law Firm To 9th Circuit: ‘Common Practice’ Of Keyword Ads Infringed No Trademarks

SAN FRANCISCO — Asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a trial court’s judgment that its purchasing of a competitor’s trademark in Google keyword ads was not trademark infringement, an Arizona law firm contends in its appellee brief that the purchasing of such online advertisements is a “common practice” that, at best, resulted in de minimis consumer confusion.
January 17, 2024
Panel: Southwest’s Costs Are Not Categorically Barred From System Failure Coverage

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 16 determined that a lower court erred in finding that Southwest Airlines' costs related to a 2016 computer system failure are categorically barred from coverage as a matter of law, reversing and remanding the lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a cyber risk insurer in a coverage dispute arising from Southwest’s alleged more than $77 million in losses resulting from the system failure and subsequent flight disruptions.
January 12, 2024
COMMENTARY: The Changing Landscape Of Antitrust Scrutiny In A Post-Pandemic World

By Gary Foster, Raphael Kiess and Rishi Chhatwal
January 16, 2024
Epic, Apple Denied Certiorari In UCL Antitrust Dispute Over App Store, Fortnite

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Epic Games Inc. and Apple Inc. saw their competing petitions for certiorari denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 16, with the high court declining to consider questions about the Sherman Act and injunctive relief in the companies’ respective claims for monopolistic behavior, contractual duties and unfair competition in the sale of apps and related items for mobile devices using Apple’s operating system (iOS).
January 16, 2024
Per Jack Daniel’s Ruling, 9th Circuit Reverses In ‘Punchbowl’ Trademark Suit

PASADENA, Calif. — The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc. v. VIP Products LLC “altered the law that governed” when it previously found that an online news service’s use of the “Punchbowl” mark did not dilute a party-planning firm’s trademark, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 12, leading it to, after rehearing, issue a revised opinion reversing a trial court’s dismissal and remanding for further consideration under the traditional likelihood of confusion test.
January 12, 2024
Judge Dismisses With Prejudice UCL Suit Against Apple For ICloud Storage Fees

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Jan. 11 granted Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss a third amended putative class complaint brought by plaintiffs who claim that Apple “addicted” them to its free iCloud data storage service and then required them to pay once the data they stored exceeded its free tier, finding that they failed to plead any misrepresentations or fraudulent conduct.
January 12, 2024
EBay Fined $3 Million For Harassment Campaign Against Online Critics

BOSTON — In a deferred prosecution agreement filed Jan. 11 in Massachusetts federal court, eBay Inc. announced that it is paying a $3 million criminal monetary payment to resolve charges of stalking, witness tampering and destruction of records related to a campaign of harassment carried out by a group of eBay employees and executives against a couple that published articles on their website that were critical of the online auction platform provider.
January 10, 2024
Judge Compels Arbitration Of UCL Suit Accusing App Of Illegal Sportsbook Services

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Jan. 9 granted a motion to compel arbitration of putative class claims against an app company accused of offering illegal sports gambling services in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
January 10, 2024
Copyright Claims Tossed With Leave To Amend In California Software Row

SAN FRANCISCO — Counterclaims of direct and contributory copyright infringement leveled by a software developer against a former licensee were dismissed as “too conclusory” on Jan. 9 by a federal judge in California.
January 10, 2024
Judge Affirms Partial Sanctions Denial In Bitcoin Ownership Suit

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Overruling a bitcoin mining firm’s objections to a magistrate judge’s partial denial of a motion to impose post-trial discovery sanctions on the defendant in a cryptocurrency ownership dispute, a Florida federal judge deemed the magistrate’s ruling “to be well-reasoned and correct” related to required disclosures and compliance with court deadlines in completing a judgment debtor fact form.
January 09, 2024
Twitter-Banning Suit Remanded; Amount In Controversy Found Lacking

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter Inc. failed to establish that the amount in controversy in a lawsuit over the suspension of two attorneys’ social media accounts exceeded the minimum federal threshold of $75,000, a California federal judge found, granting the plaintiff’s motion to remand the matter to Florida state court.
January 08, 2024
Pet Brush Maker May Subpoena Meta To Obtain Online Counterfeiters’ Identities

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of website operators accused of selling and advertising counterfeit goods lost their bid to quash a discovery subpoena on Meta Platforms Inc., with a California federal judge finding that the plaintiff demonstrated that good cause exists to obtain the defendants’ identifying information for the purpose of serving them with its complaint for intellectual property infringement and unfair competition.