Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce
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July 29, 2021
Appeal, Amendment Pursued In Antitrust Suits Against Facebook
WASHINGTON, D.C. — One month after a District of Columbia federal judge dismissed antitrust lawsuits against Facebook Inc. by a coalition of U.S. states and the Federal Trade Commission, with leave to amend, the states on July 28 filed a notice informing the court that they are pursuing an appeal in the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rather than filing an amended complaint.
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July 27, 2021
Record Labels Ask 4th Circuit To Affirm $1 Billion Copyright Award Against ISP
RICHMOND, Va. — A jury correctly found an internet service provider (ISP) contributorily and vicariously liable for its subscribers’ online infringement of copyrighted songs due to its failure to prevent the infringement, a group of record labels tells the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a July 23 appellee brief, asking the court to uphold the jury’s $1 billion award to them.
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July 27, 2021
Website Operator To 8th Circuit: No Jurisdiction From Single, Orchestrated Sale
ST. LOUIS — In a July 23 appellee brief, Zazzle Inc. asks the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a trial court’s ruling that a trademark owner failed to establish specific personal jurisdiction in Missouri over it from the online sale of a single purportedly infringing item, arguing that there was no showing of purposeful availment or targeting the state.
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July 26, 2021
Insurers Ask 5th Circuit To Affirm No Coverage Ruling For Phishing Incident
NEW ORLEANS — Under a “straightforward application of contract law,” two insurers tell the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in July 23 briefs that funds stolen in a phishing scheme were not owned or controlled by their policyholder, thus negating any duty for them to reimburse the stolen funds amounts that were voluntarily reimbursed by appellant RealPage Inc.
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July 26, 2021
Domino’s Ordered To Make Its Website Accessible For Blind Patrons
LOS ANGELES — Domino’s Pizza LLC is required to bring its website into compliance with federal accessibility guidelines, a California federal judge ruled in a June 23 in chambers order, granting partial summary judgment to a blind man who sued the pizza chain for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.)
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July 20, 2021
Bona Fide Use Of Mark Required Under Lanham Act, 9th Circuit Says
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California did not err in granting Apple Inc. summary judgment on allegations that the tech giant infringed the “Memoji” trademark, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled July 13, because the purported owner of the mark failed to demonstrate bona fide use of “Memoji” in commerce.
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July 14, 2021
Panel Agrees: Mobile Application Creator Ineligible For Patenting
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a July 13 holding, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a California federal judge’s determination that an invention that purportedly allows “technically unsophisticated users” to create mobile applications recites patent-ineligible subject matter.
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July 13, 2021
Biden Seeks Dismissal Of 9th Circuit Appeal Of Suit Over Rescinded TikTok Ban
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The revoking of a Trump-era executive order banning the TikTok social network app from the United States moots a 10-month old preliminary injunction halting enforcement of the ban, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. tells the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a July 12 unopposed motion to voluntarily dismiss the appeal that was filed by his predecessor.
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July 13, 2021
Claim Constructions By Texas Federal Judge Disputed By Patent Owner
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a June 29 appellant brief filed with the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, the owner of two patents relating to signal processing techniques asserts that a federal judge in Texas erroneously construed a variety of claim terms, leading to a jury verdict in favor of Google LLC.
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July 13, 2021
On Remand From High Court, LinkedIn, HiQ Argue CFAA Application To Public Data
SAN FRANCISCO — In a pair of July 9 supplemental remand briefs, LinkedIn Corp. and an analytics firm debate in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals what effect a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on unauthorized data access under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) has on the present dispute over the access and use of publicly available information from LinkedIn’s website.
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July 12, 2021
Publisher’s Copyright Claims Against Photography Company Survive In New York
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on July 9 refused to dismiss allegations that Shutterstock Inc. committed copyright infringement when it failed to remove 2,300 photographs from its database after its agreement with a magazine publisher was terminated.
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July 09, 2021
Federal Judge Dismisses Insurer’s Subrogation Suit Over Defective Hoverboards
CHICAGO — A federal judge on June 30 dismissed without prejudice an insurer’s subrogation lawsuit alleging that Amazon and two Chinese companies are responsible for defective hoverboards that purportedly caused fire damage to its insureds’ home one day after the insurer voluntarily dismissed its claims against the remaining defendants.
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July 08, 2021
Trump Sues To Regain Social Media Accounts, Declare CDA Immunity Unconstitutional
MIAMI — Donald J. Trump filed three putative class actions on July 7, accusing Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and YouTube Inc. of violating the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by deleting his accounts on their respective online platforms, asking a Florida federal court to order restoration of the ex-president’s accounts and to declare Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) unconstitutional.
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July 08, 2021
Federal Circuit Rejects Ralph Lauren Appeal Of Patent Board Ruling
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 7 upheld a determination by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board that various claims of a client-server system for modifying the shape of a computer cursor depending upon where the cursor hovers are not obvious.
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July 07, 2021
Washington Federal Judge Says Jurisdiction Exists In Trademark Row
TACOMA, Wash. — In a July 6 order denying dismissal, a federal judge in Washington rejected assertions by a Florida company that the court lacks jurisdiction over a dispute involving the “Lollywaffle” trademark.
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July 02, 2021
Man Tells 1st Circuit Defamatory Posts Also Infringed Copyright
BOSTON — A Massachusetts man filed an opening appellant brief in the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on June 23, arguing that he sufficiently alleged prima facie cases for defamation, related to an online chat page operator’s reposting of comments from another platform that contained false accusations against him, and for copyright infringement of one of his comments that was reposted without permission.
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June 30, 2021
FTC’s, States’ Antitrust Suits Against Facebook Dismissed By Federal Judge
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of June 28 rulings, a District of Columbia federal judge granted motions by Facebook Inc. to dismiss antitrust lawsuits brought against it by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of U.S. states, with the judge finding that the complaints failed for lack of alleging monopoly power and laches, among other things.
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June 29, 2021
Dismissal Of 2 Social Media Terror-Aiding Suits Upheld By Split 9th Circuit Panel
SAN FRANCISCO — In a lengthy June 22 ruling that included a concurring opinion and a partial dissent, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed dismissal of two lawsuits alleging that Google LLC, Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. aided and abetted acts of terror via their social media platforms, with a panel majority finding that the family members of terror attack victims alleged claims that were barred by the Communications Decency Act (CDA) and failed to state a claim under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), respectively.
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June 28, 2021
WhatsApp Petitions Board For Review Of Cell Phone Networking Patent
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a June 24 petition for inter partes review filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, WhatsApp LLC asserts that a combination of prior art renders a patented cellular phone communication network obvious, citing a recent Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in support.
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June 23, 2021
Supreme Court: Students’ 1st Amendment Rights Outweigh Discipline Interests
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Although “schools may have a special interest in regulating some off-campus student speech,” a U.S. Supreme Court majority ruled on June 23 that any such interests are trumped by a student’s right to free expression under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, holding that a Pennsylvania school violated a student’s free speech rights when it disciplined her for social media statements that she posted off-campus and after school hours.