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Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

  • November 04, 2019

    Victim’s Daughter Seeks High Court Uniform CDA Standard In Online Gun Sale Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Oct. 31 reply brief supporting her petition for certiorari in a negligence lawsuit against the operator of an online firearms marketplace, the daughter of a shooting victim asks the U.S. Supreme Court for “a uniform construction of” the Communications Decency Act (CDA) as to “the degree of protection the [statute] affords website owners and operators for their own negligent and intentional acts” (Yasmeen Daniel v. Armslist LLC, et al., No. 19-153, U.S. Sup.).

  • November 04, 2019

    Damages Found To Be Not Recoverable For Lost Trade Secrets Under CFAA

    NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge in Louisiana on Oct. 23 ruled that a defendant in a trade secret misappropriation lawsuit is entitled to summary judgment dismissing injunctive relief and damages claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) because his former employer failed to provide sufficient details describing the nature of the alleged trade secrets the defendant allegedly deleted from his company-issued laptop when his employment was terminated (Source Production & Equipment Co. Inc., et al. v. Kevin J. Schehr, et al., No. 16-17528, E.D. La., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185066).

  • November 01, 2019

    YouTube Critic To High Court:  Malicious Copyright Suit Merited Punitive Damages

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A YouTube user who pursued malicious prosecution claims against a Florida church that was the target of her critical videos and was sued for copyright infringement by the church tells the U.S. Supreme Court in an Oct. 23 reply brief that her petition for certiorari properly presented questions regarding due process and her entitlement to punitive damages (Shirley Jn Johnson v. New Destiny Christian Center Church Inc., et al., No. 19-279, U.S. Sup.).

  • October 31, 2019

    Jurisdictional Discovery Ordered In Trademark Suit Over ‘Sugar Daddy’ Website

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — Finding that substantial questions exist over whether personal jurisdiction can be exercised over the Cyprus-based operator of a “sugar daddy” dating website accused of trademark infringement, a California federal judge on Oct. 23 ordered the parties to engage in jurisdictional discovery prior to the resolution of a pending summary judgment motion (Reflex Media Inc., et al. v. Apiriliaco Ltd., et al., No. 8:16-cv-00795, C.D.  Calif.).

  • October 25, 2019

    Former Franchisee Failed To Comply With Injunction, Arizona Federal Judge Says

    PHOENIX — An Arizona federal judge on Oct. 23 granted a franchisor’s motion for contempt and sanctions after determining that a former franchisee failed to comply with a preliminary injunction by not taking reasonable steps to remove customer reviews from Google, Facebook and Angie's List that reference the franchisor’s business (ReBath LLC v. HD Solutions LLC, et al., No. 19-4873, D. Ariz., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 183614).

  • October 22, 2019

    Firearms Website Operator Urges Supreme Court To Reject CDA Petition

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — After its response was requested by the U.S. Supreme Court, the operator of a firearms classified ads website on Oct. 18 filed its opposition to a petition for certiorari in which a shooting victim’s daughter questions the scope for immunity from liability provided to website operators under the Communications Decency Act (CDA) (Yasmeen Daniel v. Armslist LLC, et al., No. 19-153, U.S. Sup.).

  • October 17, 2019

    In Supplemental Brief, Google Defends Certiorari Bid In Java Copyright Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Responding to an amicus curiae brief filed by the U.S. government, Google LLC filed a supplemental brief in support of its petition for certiorari on Oct. 16, telling the U.S. Supreme Court that its presented questions regarding the copyrightability of software interfaces are of “breathtaking importance” to the practice of reimplementation that is vital to the software industry (Google LLC v. Oracle America Inc., No. 18-956, U.S. Sup.).

  • October 17, 2019

    Apple Seeks Rehearing Of Decision Denying Inter Partes Review

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A September 2019 divided decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that turned away an Apple Inc. petition for inter partes review (IPR) of a patented beacon for transmitting Bluetooth messages should be reheard, the software giant maintains in an Oct. 16 filing with the board (Apple Inc. v. Uniloc 2017 LLC, No. IPR2019-00753, PTAB).

  • October 15, 2019

    Record Labels Told To Supplement Filings In Remanded Vimeo Copyright Suit

    NEW YORK — More than three years after the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partly reversed a trial court’s ruling in favor of an online video-sharing service provider in a copyright infringement suit against it, a New York federal judge on Oct. 4 directed the plaintiff record labels to supplement and clarify their submitted evidence supporting assertions that employees of Vimeo LLC had “red flag knowledge” that certain user-submitted videos were infringing (Capitol Records LLC, et al. v. Vimeo LLC, et al., No. 1:09-cv-10101 and -10105, S.D. N.Y.).

  • October 16, 2019

    Dissenting 4th Circuit Judge Warns Of Applying Analog Standards To Digital Cases

    RICHMOND, Va. — As the lone dissenter from an Oct. 9 Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision to deny rehearing to a man who sought to suppress evidence that he downloaded child pornography, Judge James A. Wynn Jr., who also dissented from the original panel ruling that upheld a trial court’s decision to not suppress, voiced his concern that courts too often do not take the time to sufficiently familiarize themselves with modern technology when it is the subject of lawsuits (United States v. Nikolai Bosyk, No. 18-4302, 4th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 30321).

  • October 16, 2019

    Hotels Answer Online Travel Agency’s Antitrust Suit With Trademark Counterclaims

    TEXARKANA, Texas — After seeing their motions to dismiss and transfer denied, an antitrust lawsuit brought against them by an online travel agency (OTA), the defendant hotel chains each filed answers in Texas federal court on Oct. 11, denying any conspiracy and leveling counterclaims for trademark infringement against TravelPass Group LLC (TravelPass Group LLC, et al. v. Caesars Entertainment Corp., et al., No. 5:18-cv-00153, E.D. Texas).

  • October 15, 2019

    Marketing Firm, Facebook, Instagram Settle Suit Over Revoked Social Network Access

    OAKLAND, Calif. — In a jointly filed stipulation of dismissal on Oct. 14, Stackla Inc., Facebook Inc. and Instagram LLC tell a California federal court that they have settled and agreed to dismiss a month-old complaint brought by Stackla against the social networks over the decision to revoke the online marketer’s access to their platforms (Stackla Inc., et al. v. Facebook Inc., No. 4:19-cv-05849, N.D. Calif.).

  • October 15, 2019

    Facebook’s Anti-SLAPP Motion In App Maker’s UCL Suit Properly Denied, Panel Rules

    SAN FRANCISCO — Citing an unjustified delay by Facebook Inc. in moving to dismiss an app developer’s claims against it under California’s Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (anti-SLAPP) statute, a California appeals panel on Sept. 30 affirmed denial of that motion, permitting claims against the social network under California’s unfair competition law (UCL) to proceed (Six4Three LLC v. Facebook Inc., et al., Nos. A154890 and A155334, Calif. App., 1st Dist., 2019 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 6616).

  • October 15, 2019

    Class Claims Against Adobe Over Allegedly Deleted Files Sent To Arbitration

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Oct. 11 granted a motion by Adobe Systems Inc. to compel arbitration in a class complaint by a professional photographer and videographer who alleges that the software company’s editing program malfunctioned and permanently deleted his files and data, but denied Adobe’s request to dismiss the class claims (David Keith Cooper v. Adobe Systems Incorporated, No. 18-6742, N.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177413).

  • October 14, 2019

    LinkedIn Asks 9th Circuit To Reconsider Injunction In CFAA Data-Scraping Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A panel’s ruling that allowed an analytics firm to collect and use publicly available user data “pose[s] a grave threat to user privacy and the openness of the Internet” and runs counter to the intent of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), LinkedIn Corp. tells the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an Oct. 11 petition in which it seeks en banc rehearing of the panel’s decision that upheld an injunction permitting the data collection (hiQ Labs Inc. v. LinkedIn Corp., No. 17-16783, 9th Cir.).

  • October 14, 2019

    Judge Grants Apple’s Motion To Dismiss UCL, Other Claims In False Advertising Suit

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A federal judge in California on Oct. 11 granted Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss 10 claims in a putative class action alleging that it falsely advertised that its computer screens were of the “highest quality” even though they contained a “critical defect” that it knew about, rejecting the plaintiffs’ contention that Apple’s fraudulent omissions makes it liable under the California’s unfair competition law (UCL) (Kim Ahern, et al. v. Apple Inc., No. 18-07196, N.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177425).

  • October 14, 2019

    Twitter Users To 2nd Circuit: Rehearing Not Merited In Trump 1st Amendment Suit

    NEW YORK — In a Sept. 27 brief opposing President Donald J. Trump’s petition for rehearing, a group of Twitter users who were blocked from the president’s account tell the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that there is nothing exceptional about a panel’s finding that the blocking violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., No. 18-1691, 2nd Cir.).

  • October 11, 2019

    7th Circuit Remands Groupon Right Of Publicity Suit For Jurisdictional Finding

    CHICAGO — Concluding that Groupon Inc. failed to properly plead federal diversity jurisdiction in removing a right of publicity putative class action from state court, a Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Oct. 9 remanded an appeal over a class certification denial to the trial court for a determination of whether federal jurisdiction exists (Christine Dancel v. Groupon Inc., No. 19-1831, 7th Cir., 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 30246).

  • October 10, 2019

    Twitter Must Identify Poster Of Defamatory Statements About Japanese Psychologist

    SAN FRANCISCO — A subpoena requiring Twitter Inc. to identify an anonymous user who is the defendant in a Japanese defamation lawsuit survived the social network’s motion to quash on Oct. 7, when a California federal magistrate judge found that the plaintiff in that suit sufficiently established that the subpoena did not violate the right to anonymous speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (In re Ex Parte Application of Dr. Yuichiro Yasuda, et al., No. 3:19-mc-80127, N.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174001).

  • October 09, 2019

    Board Sides With Apple, Deems Authentication Patent Obvious

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In an Oct. 8 final written decision, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board agreed with inter partes review (IPR) petitioner Apple Inc. that a patent directed to authenticating the identity of multiple users would have been obvious to a person of skill in the art (POSITA) (Apple Inc. v. Universal Secure Registry LLC, No. IPR2018-00809, PTAB).

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