Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce
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January 28, 2021
Judge Enjoins Merchants From Selling Counterfeit Vape Products Online
NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Jan. 26 granted a tobacco vape-maker’s motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin a group of online sellers from continuing to sell counterfeit vape products with the company’s logo through a Hong Kong-based website and ordered the sellers’ financial accounts frozen.
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January 28, 2021
9th Circuit Partly Reinstates Photographer’s Copyright Claims
SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 25 found that a California federal judge abused his discretion when dismissing as time-barred allegations that an online women’s magazine infringed a copyrighted photograph of two Hollywood stars.
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January 28, 2021
Amazon Wins Partial Dismissal Of Copyright Claims In Washington
SEATTLE — Allegations that Amazon.com Inc. and Amazon Digital Services LLC infringed musical composition copyrights by “making available” pirated copies online were dismissed Jan. 25 by a federal judge in Washington.
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January 25, 2021
Mootness Of Trump’s Twitter-Blocking Appeal Debated In High Court Briefs
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ finding that former President Donald J. Trump violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by blocking users from his Twitter account should stand, a group of respondents tell the U.S. Supreme Court in a Jan. 21 brief in which they agree with Trump’s position in a supplemental brief that the petition for certiorari is now moot, while disagreeing with his argument that the underlying judgment should be vacated.
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January 25, 2021
Copyright Claims In Massachusetts Dismissed Amid Fair Use Finding
BOSTON — A federal judge in Massachusetts on Jan. 21 found that the moderator of a social networking website did not incur liability for copyright infringement when moving the group, and all existing posts and comments, to a new web location to avoid Russian censorship.
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January 22, 2021
Judge Won’t Require Amazon To Restore Hosting Service To Parler
SEATTLE — Parler LLC failed in its bid to obtain a temporary injunction requiring Amazon Web Services LLC to resume its web-hosting services that were recently suspended, when a Washington federal judge on Jan. 21 found the conservative social media platform was unlikely to succeed on the merits of its antitrust and breach of contract claims against Amazon.
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January 22, 2021
Developer Sues Apple For Excluding Coronavirus Tracking App From App Store
CONCORD, N.H. — A smartphone app developer filed Sherman Act claims against Apple Inc. in New Hampshire federal court on Jan. 19, claiming that the technology giant engaged in monopolization when it declined to sell the company’s coronavirus-tracking app in the Apple App Store.
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January 22, 2021
Minor Sues Twitter For Sex Trafficking, Child Pornography Violations
SAN FRANCISCO — A 17-year-old boy filed a complaint against Twitter Inc. in California federal court on Jan. 20, complaining that the social network’s failure to take down a user-posted explicit video of him or to take action against the posters constituted negligence and violated federal and state sex-trafficking and child pornography laws.
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January 20, 2021
Class Complaint Accusing Overstock Of Overtaxing Kept In Federal Court
ST. LOUIS — A Missouri woman who brought a class complaint against an online retailer for allegedly overtaxing purchases shipped to Missouri addresses failed to show that her claims are less than $5 million, a federal judge in Missouri ruled Jan. 15, denying a motion to remand.
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January 20, 2021
Anti-Malware Firm Again Seeks Dismissal Of Lanham Deception Claims By Competitor
SAN JOSE, Calif. — On remand after a failed petition for certiorari, a malware detection software maker on Jan. 12 filed a renewed motion to dismiss claims brought against it by a competitor in California federal court, asserting that it has not engaged in deceptive acts or false advertising in its targeting of the plaintiff’s “Scareware.”
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January 20, 2021
Class Claims Over YouTube’s Treatment Of LGBTQ Videos Dismissed
SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Jan. 6 dismissed a putative class action over YouTube LLC’s purported discriminatory treatment of LGBTQ-themed and created videos, finding that constitutional and Lanham Act claims were improperly pleaded.
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January 19, 2021
9th Circuit Orders More Briefing Over Injunction Of Trump’s WeChat Ban
SAN FRANCISCO — After a hearing in President Donald J. Trump’s appeal of a preliminary injunction that halted his ban of the WeChat social network and app, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Jan. 15 directed the president and an alliance of the social network’s users to submit supplemental briefs on whether Trump exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by issuing the executive order that established the ban.
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January 15, 2021
Plaintiff Wants YouTube’s Counterclaims Dismissed In Anti-Infringement Tool Suit
SAN JOSE, Calif. — One of two plaintiffs suing YouTube LLC for purportedly denying them access to a copyright anti-infringement tool that larger entities are permitted to use asks a California federal court tn a Jan. 14 reply brief to dismiss YouTube’s counterclaims against it, arguing that the counterclaims lack specificity and supporting facts.
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January 15, 2021
Google Infringes Patented Electronic Spreadsheet System, Appellant Says
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Jan. 4 appellant brief, a patent owner urges the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to vacate and remand a Delaware federal judge’s determination that “Google Sheets” does not infringe a patented electronic spreadsheet system.
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January 15, 2021
Cert Denied In Software Dispute Over Copyright And All Writs Act
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its Jan. 11 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court turned away a petition for certiorari that poses the question of whether U.S. courts can enforce monetary judgments against foreign companies under the All Writs Act (AWA) in a dispute involving copyrighted software.
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January 13, 2021
Magistrate: ISP Not Entitled To Labels’ Investigator’s Report In Copyright Case
DENVER — An internet service provider (ISP) has not established a sufficient need for an investigator’s “hash report” to overcome its protections as privileged work product, a Colorado federal magistrate judge ruled Jan. 7, denying a motion to compel by Charter Communications Inc. as it defends itself from vicarious copyright infringement claims brought by a group of record labels.
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January 12, 2021
Discovery Of Foreign App Sales Data Denied In Apple App Store Antitrust Suit
OAKLAND, Calif. — A group of consumer plaintiffs in a long-running, consolidated antitrust lawsuit over purported monopolization by Apple Inc. related to its App Store were denied a request for production (RFP) of revenue data from the foreign sales of iPhone apps, with a California federal magistrate judge on Jan. 8 finding that the plaintiffs failed to establish that such information was relevant to their claims.
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January 12, 2021
Russian Stream-Ripping Site Owner Denied Certiorari In Jurisdictional Dispute
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The owner of two Russian-based stream-ripping websites lost his bid to challenge Virginia jurisdiction on Jan. 11, when the U.S. Supreme Court denied his petition for certiorari in a copyright infringement suit filed by a group of record labels.
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January 12, 2021
Parler Sues Amazon For Antitrust After Account Suspension, Seeks TRO
SEATTLE — In the wake of having its web-hosting account with Amazon Web Services Inc. suspended for purportedly allowing its users to engage in posts that incite and encourage violence, conservative social network operator Parler LLC sued Amazon in Washington federal court on Jan. 11, alleging antitrust violations that benefit rival Twitter Inc.
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January 11, 2021
Supreme Court To Consider Whether Students Can Be Disciplined For Online Actions
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an order list released Jan. 8, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a school district’s petition for certiorari to decide whether a 50-year-old case that set precedent regarding students’ free speech rights and a school’s ability to discipline over a “substantial disruption” applies to online, off-campus behavior.