Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce
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July 07, 2022
Google Opposes Cert For Question Of CDA Immunity For Online Content Suggestions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The family of a terror victim has not established any conflict among the circuit courts that would justify the U.S. Supreme Court granting review of a question over whether the immunity provision of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) applies to algorithm-generated content recommendations, Google LLC argues in a July 5 brief opposing the family members’ petition for certiorari.
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June 29, 2022
10th Circuit Denies Rehearing After Upholding Dismissal Of Voting Conspiracy Suit
DENVER — The 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 27 denied a petition for rehearing filed by voters after the appellate panel affirmed dismissal of their putative class complaint accusing Dominion Voting Systems Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook) and Center for Tech and Civil Life (CTCL) of conspiring to interfere in the 2020 presidential election.
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June 29, 2022
Judge Quashes Subpoena Requiring Twitter To Identify Anonymous Tweeter
OAKLAND, Calif. — A company seeking to compel Twitter Inc. to provide identifying information about an anonymous social network user failed to demonstrate that the user’s posting of six copyrighted photos as part of an apparent societal commentary did not constitute fair use, a California federal judge ruled June 21, concluding that the movant did not establish a prima facie case of copyright infringement sufficient to outweigh the Twitter user’s right to speak anonymously under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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June 29, 2022
11th Circuit Reinstates Reverse Confusion Claims Against Amazon
ATLANTA — In a blow to Amazon.com Inc., the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 28 said that because there are “several important differences in how the seven likelihood-of-confusion factors apply in reverse-confusion cases versus forward-confusion cases,” allegations that the online retailer infringed the “FyreTV” trademark were wrongly tossed.
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June 27, 2022
Unfair Competition, DMCA Claims Tossed By Florida Federal Judge
TAMPA, Fla. — Allegations of federal unfair competition, common-law trademark infringement and violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act were dismissed without prejudice on June 23 by a Florida federal judge, who found that a plaintiff is unable to show that the state’s long-arm statute applies to a resident of Mexico.
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June 17, 2022
Judge Dismisses UCL Suit Claiming Apple Updates Harmed IPhone Battery Life
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on June 14 granted Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit contending it violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes by allegedly releasing software updates that intentionally harmed iPhone performance, finding that the plaintiffs failed to sufficiently plead their claims and relied in large part on “anonymous online postings.”
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June 17, 2022
Prudential, Shenzhen Spar Over Cybersquatting Ruling In 4th Circuit Briefs
RICHMOND, Va. — In a June 14 reply brief, a Chinese internet financial company tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that a trial court wrongly concluded that it acquired the pru.com domain in bad faith, by relying on circumstantial evidence and by not drawing inferences in its favor.
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June 15, 2022
Borrower Seeking Bitcoin Return Split Rights With Parallel UCL Claim, Panel Says
LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel on June 14 affirmed a trial court’s order sustaining a demurrer to a borrower’s claim that his lender violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by selling bitcoin he pledged as collateral, finding that the action represented “impermissible claim splitting” because he had previously filed a separate suit for damages against the lender based on the same injury.
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June 15, 2022
Anonymous Tweeter Asks High Court To Decide Standard For Unmasking Doe Defendants
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Appealing a trial court’s issuing of a subpoena to identify her in an underlying defamation lawsuit and asserting her right to speak anonymously online, a Jane Doe defendant filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on June 7, asking the court to provide a nationwide standard for compelling Does’ identities instead of the existing “patchwork of standards of review among federal courts.”
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June 07, 2022
COMMENTARY: DOJ Guidance On Web Accessibility And The ADA As Related To Title II
By Hiram Kuykendall
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June 14, 2022
Fraud, UCL Claims Over Apple Device Processors Performance Speed Again Dismissed
SAN JOSE, Calif. — For the third time in less than four years, a California federal judge on June 8 dismissed putative class claims under California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and federal and state fraud statutes over the purported processor speed slowdown for certain of Apple Inc.’s devices, finding that the plaintiffs did not establish the necessary elements to show any fraudulent conduct in the defendant’s efforts to mitigate a security vulnerability, which led to the slowdown.
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June 13, 2022
Zillow Tells 9th Circuit Infringing Photos Were A Single Compilation
SAN FRANCISCO — A trial court’s finding of willful copyright infringement and its issuance of a $1,927,200 damages award cannot stand, Zillow Group Inc. tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in its May 31 opening appellant brief, in light of the requirement of Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC that a work be registered prior to initiating infringement litigation.
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June 14, 2022
In Utah Federal Copyright Case, Claim-Splitting Doctrine Doesn’t Apply
SALT LAKE CITY — A motion to dismiss copyright infringement allegations on grounds of claim-splitting failed June 9, when a federal judge in Utah instead ruled the case should proceed.
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June 13, 2022
North Carolina Federal Judge Issues $335,000 Sanction In Trademark, Copyright Case
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — In an order issued June 9, a federal judge in North Carolina said a copyright and trademark infringement defendant’s repeated defiance of an injunction justifies an award of $335,000 in sanctions.
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June 13, 2022
Discovery Sanctions, Summary Judgment Ruling Issued In Meta Data-Harvesting Suit
SAN FRANCISCO — Meta Platforms Inc. was handed a mixed victory on June 6 when a California federal magistrate judge partly granted its motions for spoliation sanctions and partial summary judgment in a suit in which the social network operator brings claims for computer fraud and unfair competition against a consulting firm that scraped user data from Facebook.
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June 10, 2022
Instant Messaging Patents Recite Abstract Idea, California Federal Judge Rules
SAN FRANCISCO — Slack Technologies Inc., maker of business messaging software, on June 8 won dismissal of allegations of patent infringement leveled in connection with two patents relating to an instant messaging system.
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June 09, 2022
Family Accuses Meta Of Causing Child’s Anorexia With ‘Addictive’ Algorithms
SAN FRANCISCO — A mother, father and their teen daughter who allegedly became anorexic and suffers severe depression as a consequence of her addiction to Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram social media app on June 6 filed a complaint accusing Meta of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by promoting its product to underage users and concealing its knowledge of the product’s addictive and harmful effects on minors.
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June 06, 2022
High Court Seeks Solicitor General’s Input In FSIA Sovereign Immunity Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its June 6 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court asked the U.S. solicitor general to weigh in on whether the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) excludes sovereign immunity for private entities acting as agents for foreign states, as the high court considers whether to grant certiorari to Israeli-owned NSO Group Technologies Limited, which WhatsApp Inc. sued for computer fraud after NSO used its messaging platform to send spyware to some of its users.
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June 03, 2022
Facebook User To 9th Circuit: Messages Violated TCPA, Were Sent Using Autodialer
SAN FRANCISCO — A Facebook user filed a reply brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 1, maintaining his argument that unwanted text messages he received from the social network were sent using an automatic telephone dialing system (autodialer or ATDS) and thus violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), differentiating the autodialer at issue from one deemed not in violation of the act in Facebook Inc. v. Duguid.
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June 02, 2022
Maryland Top Court Finds Internet Talc Samples Admissible Evidence
BALTIMORE — A reasonable juror could conclude that sealed talc bottles obtained from various locations through the internet are original products, and the plaintiff need not have established a chain of custody dating to their creation, the Maryland Court of Appeals said May 31 in affirming a lower court’s reversal of exclusion of the bottles as evidence.