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

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

April 18, 2024
Judge Won’t Rethink Dismissal Ruling In GitHub AI Copyright Suit

OAKLAND, Calif. — Five Doe defendants who claim that they did not receive proper attribution for use of their licensed materials on GitHub Inc.’s online collaboration platform failed in their quest for reconsideration of dismissal of their claims under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) when a California federal judge ruled that they did not “show reasonable diligence in bringing the motion” and did not establish any of the prerequisites for justifying reconsideration.
April 17, 2024
Apple, Plaintiffs, App Makers Differ On Discovery Issues In IPhone Antitrust Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — In a trio of discovery letter briefs filed in California federal court, Apple Inc., a class of consumers and a nonparty app developer bicker over the relevance of the plaintiffs’ discovery requests related to notification of the recently certified class and the merits of the class monopolization claims against Apple.
April 16, 2024
Epic Games Proposes Injunction To Stop Google’s Monopolistic Practices

SAN FRANCISCO — Four months after a California federal jury found that Google Inc. engaged in anticompetitive conduct, tying and restraint of trade related to distribution of and payment for Android apps, plaintiff Epic Games Inc. filed a proposed permanent injunction in which it suggests that Google be prevented from engaging in various agreements, incentives and downloading and installation practices, among other things, for the purpose of making the relevant app markets competitive.
April 16, 2024
Massachusetts High Court Considers When A Party Is On Notice Of Online Misuse

BOSTON — Requiring a group of models to police even the most obscure portions of the internet for potential misappropriation of their images is “a little bit of a needle in a haystack problem,” the justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court said during oral arguments, as they wrestled over a question of whether social media posts are “inherently unknowable” in the context of triggering the statute of limitations of the discovery rule for defamation and publicity rights claims.
April 15, 2024
Corrected Judgment Entered After $525M Awarded In Patent Case

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois on April 12 entered a corrected judgment two days after jurors awarded a plaintiff $525 million in damages for infringement by Amazon Web Services Inc. of three information storage and retrieval patents.
April 10, 2024
Siding With Google, Board Says Ad Insertion Method, System Patent Is Obvious

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In an April 9 final written decision (FWD), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board declared 13 claims of a patented method and system for inserting advertisements into broadcast content across platforms and devices obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA).
April 10, 2024
Popular Instagram User Wins Leave To Amend Copyright Claims Against Travel Company

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An Icelandic woman with more than 1 million Instagram followers defeated a travel marketing company’s motion to dismiss copyright infringement claims on April 9, with a District of Columbia federal judge instead granting the plaintiff leave to file a third amended complaint.
April 10, 2024
Tribes Sue Social Media Platforms Over Teen Mental Health Crisis

LOS ANGELES — In parallel complaints filed April 9 in the California Superior Court, two Native American tribes bring claims against the operators of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for creating a mental health crisis among their adolescents by designing their social media platforms in such a way that they are addictive, especially to younger users, which they claim leads to a plethora of emotional and psychological problems.
April 10, 2024
Software Developer Is Immune In Clean Air Act Dispute Arising From Defeat Devices

NEW YORK — The developers of a software tool that is used to reprogram car computer systems are entitled to immunity under the Communications Decency Act from a Clean Air Act (CAA) claim brought against them by the United States because the government failed to allege that they developed any software that could be used to defeat vehicle emissions controls, a New York federal judge found in partly granting the developers’ motion to dismiss.
April 09, 2024
After Adverse Federal Verdict, Instagram ‘Influencer’ Cop Files State Complaint

LOS ANGELES — The same day a California federal jury found that a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officer did not experience adverse employment action in retaliation to her social media postings that were deemed “inappropriate” by the chief of police, the officer filed a similar gender discrimination complaint in California state court.
April 08, 2024
2nd Circuit Partially Revives Securities Claims Against Coinbase

NEW YORK — A Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 5 partly revived a securities suit brought against a crypto asset exchange, finding that a federal judge in New York failed to assess which version of multiple user agreements was relied on to dismiss users’ claims against the company.
April 08, 2024
Insurer Moves To Reargue Dismissal Of Breach Of Contract Claims In Subrogation Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — An insurer asked a Delaware court if it can reargue the court’s dismissal of its breach of contract claims for pleading deficiencies and file an amended complaint before dismissal with prejudice is entered on the breach of contract claims in its subrogation lawsuit seeking recovery from an application service provider for the amount paid to nonprofit insureds for investigative and remediation steps arising from a ransomware attack.
April 08, 2024
Verdict, Award In Favor Of Sprint On Trademark, ACPA Claims Upheld

ATLANTA — Efforts by sellers of counterfeit mobile phones to undo an award of $4.5 million in statutory damages in favor of Sprint Communications LLC have failed, with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals deeming a jury verdict of cybersquatting, infringement and counterfeiting supported by ample evidence.
April 04, 2024
Appeals Court Weighs In On Software Copyright Case For 3rd Time

CINCINNATI — A summary judgment in favor of infringement defendants by a federal judge in Michigan was upheld April 3 by the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, in its third ruling in a longstanding dispute over copyright protection for computer code.
April 04, 2024
California Federal Judge Offers Glimpse At Hurdles In TikTok IP Row

SAN FRANCISCO — In advance of a planned April 5 hearing on a motion to dismiss copyright infringement and false advertising claims leveled against TikTok Inc. and others, a federal judge in California has directed the video sharing app to be prepared to defend its position that the registration requirement in federal copyright law extends to copyrights registered abroad.
April 03, 2024
9th Circuit Denies Remand Of Terror-Aiding Suits Against Social Media Firms

SAN FRANCISCO — Citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Twitter Inc. v. Taamneh, 143 S. Ct. 1206 (2023), a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on April 2 denied motions by the family members of terror victims in three suits to remand their cases for the purpose of filing amended complaints, concluding that amendment would be futile because the appellants failed to allege a necessary component in their claims that Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google LLC violated the Antiterrorism Act (ATA) by permitting terrorists to use their social networks for nefarious reasons.
April 02, 2024
Pandora Prevails, Panel Agrees: Asserted Patents Ineligible For Protection

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a judgment of patent ineligibility entered by a California federal judge, agreeing that all claims of three patents asserted against the music streaming service Pandora Media LLC are directed to “nonpatentable subject matter.”
April 01, 2024
Delaware Judge Tosses Insurers’ Subrogation Suits Arising From Ransomware Attack

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware judge dismissed insurers’ subrogation lawsuits seeking recovery from an application service provider for the amount they paid to their nonprofit insureds for investigative and remediation steps arising from a ransomware attack, finding that the fact that the data breach occurred and the nonprofits incurred expenses alone is not sufficient to state a claim under the policies.
April 01, 2024
9th Circuit Panel Refuses To Rehear Ruling In $40M Commercial Crime Coverage Suit

PASADENA, Calif. — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 29 voted unanimously to deny insurers’ petition for panel rehearing challenging its reversal of a lower federal court’s dismissal of a financial services company insured’s claim for loss under its commercial crime insurance policy’s “Computer And Funds Transfer Fraud Insuring Agreement” and its claim for tortious breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, standing by its finding that the authorized submission of fraudulent electronic data into the insured’s computer system can arguably be described as “fraudulent entry” to trigger coverage.
March 29, 2024
Blockchain Technology Correctly Declared Patent-Ineligible, Panel Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a New York federal judge’s determination that a patented “framework” for determining and recording the unique pattern of imperfections on a gemstone to a blockchain recites the abstract idea of gathering and storing data.
March 28, 2024
Judge Largely Denies Coinbase’s Bid For Judgment On Pleadings In SEC Enforcement

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on March 27 issued a split ruling mostly denying Coinbase Inc.’s motion for judgment on the pleadings because the Securities and Exchange Commission adequately alleged that the company engaged in the unregistered sale of securities but also finding that the commission had not substantiated its claim that Coinbase acts as an unregistered broker.
March 28, 2024
Ankle Monitor Is Potentially A Computer Triggering Professional Liability Coverage

CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals panel held March 27 that an ankle monitor, at the very least, is potentially computer hardware triggering professional services liability coverage, reversing a lower court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insurer in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for an underlying personal injury lawsuit.
March 21, 2024
COMMENTARY: AI Raises Stakes Across Cybersecurity And Disputes Landscape

By Lorenzo Grillo
March 27, 2024
Judge Allows UCL, Negligence Claims Against Roblox In Mothers’ ‘Gambling’ Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on March 26 granted in part and denied in part a motion by Roblox Corp. to dismiss a putative class action brought against it by two mothers who accuse it of being liable for their minor children’s engagement in illegal gambling games on the Roblox platform.
March 27, 2024
Spyware Suit Judge Partly Denies Issuing Letter Rogatory On Canadian Lab

OAKLAND, Calif. — An Israeli spyware firm that is fending off computer fraud and trespass allegations by WhatsApp Inc. saw its motion to issue a letter rogatory on a third-party Canadian watchdog lab partly denied March 26 by a California federal judge who deemed some of the information sought to be duplicative of discovery already received from the plaintiff.