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Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

  • September 06, 2019

    Huawei Petitions Board For Review Of Network Topology Patent

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Sept. 5 filing with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, Huawei Technologies asserts that a patented graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying network topology would have been obvious in view of prior art (Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. v. Harris Corporation, No. IPR2019-01570, PTAB).

  • September 05, 2019

    Board Grants Facebook Petition To Review Message Silencing Patent

    ALEXANDRIA, Va. — In a Sept. 4 holding, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that Facebook Inc. and two co-petitioners showed a reasonable likelihood that they will prevail in establishing that at least one claim of a Blackberry Limited patent directed to silencing message threads is unpatentable (Facebook Inc., et al. v. Blackberry Limited, No. IPR2019-00706, PTAB).

  • September 05, 2019

    Federal Judge Trims UCL, Publicity Claim From Class Suit Over Reposting Photo

    SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California on Sept. 3 granted an apartment complex manager’s motion to trim claims for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and California’s statutory right of publicity statute from a class complaint over an alleged unauthorized reposting of an Instagram photo, but denied a second motion to strike the class allegations, ruling that the motion may be refiled if class certification is sought (Jonathon Young, et al. v. Greystar Real Estate Partners, LLC, No. 18-2149, S.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149731).

  • September 05, 2019

    Amici Ask Supreme Court To Decide If CDA Immunity Applies to Gun-Selling Website

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an amicus curiae brief filed Sept. 3, a coalition of 27 organizations dedicated to combating domestic violence ask the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari to the daughter of a shooting victim who contends that the operators of an online firearms marketplace should not be entitled to immunity from negligence and wrongful death claims under the Communications Decency Act (CDA), with the amici arguing that the statute’s immunity provision is not intended to shield website operators from liability for their own intentional actions (Yasmeen Daniel v. Armslist LLC, et al., No. 19-153, U.S. Sup.).

  • September 04, 2019

    Judge Approves Pokémon GO Nuisance Class Settlement With Reduced Service Awards

    SAN FRANCISCO — Four months after preliminarily approving the settlement of nuisance and trespass claims against the creator of Pokémon GO, a California federal judge on Aug. 30 granted final approval to the parties’ agreement, which provides injunctive relief and $4 million in costs and fees, as well as service awards for the named plaintiffs, which the judge reduced from the initial proposed settlement (In re Pokémon GO Nuisance Litigation, No. 3:16-cv-04300, N.D. Calif.).

  • August 30, 2019

    Domino’s Says Rampant Litigation Supports High Court Review Of Website ADA Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Aug. 28 reply brief supporting its petition for certiorari, Domino’s Pizza LLC tells the U.S. Supreme Court that a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling over the applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to websites and mobile apps is “Profoundly Important” and merits review in light of the high numbers of lawsuits filed in recent years regarding online accessibility, arguing that the circuit courts are split over the statute’s application in online contexts (Domino’s Pizza LLC v. Guillermo Robles, No. 18-1539, U.S. Sup.).

  • August 29, 2019

    Discovery Sanctions Granted In Ownership Dispute Over Bitcoin Fortune

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Although a Florida federal magistrate judge previously declined to issue sanctions against the defendant in a lawsuit over the ownership of billions of dollars in bitcoin, after briefing, depositions and a hearing, the magistrate on Aug. 27 imposed sanctions for the defendant’s failure to comply with previous discovery orders in the form of costs and fees for the plaintiffs, as well as a ruling deeming certain facts to be established in their favor and striking the defendant’s affirmative defenses (Ira Kleiman, et al. v. Craig Wright, No. 9:18-cv-80176, S.D. Fla.).

  • August 29, 2019

    Adding ‘.Com’ To Trademark Does Not Defeat Genericness, PTO Tells Supreme Court

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an Aug. 21 reply brief supporting its petition for certiorari, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) argues to the U.S. Supreme Court that adding a top-level domain (TLD) to an otherwise generic term does not serve to make that trademark nongeneric and registrable (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, et al. v. Booking.com B.V., No. 19-46, U.S. Sup.).

  • August 27, 2019

    FTC, AT&T Report Pending Settlement In Data-Throttling Lawsuit

    SAN FRANCISCO — Three weeks after first reporting that a settlement was likely in the Federal Trade Commission’s lawsuit against AT&T Mobility LLC for engaging in data-throttling against some of its customers, the commission and AT&T jointly filed a stipulated request in California Federal Court on Aug. 23, seeking an additional stay in discovery for the FTC’s commissioners to review and approve the proposed settlement (Federal Trade Commission v. AT&T Mobility LLC, No. 3:14-cv-04785, N.D. Calif.).

  • August 26, 2019

    Trump Asks 2nd Circuit To Rehear 1st Amendment Twitter-Blocking Suit

    NEW YORK — Calling a panel ruling against him “fundamentally misconceived,” President Donald J. Trump on Aug. 23 filed a brief asking the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to rehear en banc the appeal in a case in which he was found to have violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by blocking individuals who disagreed with him from his Twitter account (Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., No. 18-1691, 2nd Cir.).

  • August 23, 2019

    App Developers’ Antitrust Suits Against Apple Related To Remanded Consumer Suit

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Two monopolization lawsuits brought against Apple Inc. by developers of iPhone apps in the wake of a May 2019 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that revived a group of consumers’ antitrust claims against the company were related to the original lawsuit by a California federal judge who on Aug. 22 granted motions to relate by Apple (In re:  Apple iPhone Antitrust Litigation, No. 4:11-cv-06714, N.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 143264).

  • August 23, 2019

    9th Circuit Denies DOJ’s Rehearing Motion Over Invalidated TCPA Amendment

    SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 22 denied without comment the U.S. government’s petition to rehear an appeal in which, in addition to ruling that Facebook Inc. could be sued for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) via unwanted text messages, the panel found an amendment to the statute to be in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Noah Duguid v. Facebook Inc., No. 17-15320, 9th Cir.).

  • August 22, 2019

    Judge Declines To Reconsider, Stay Injunction In Texas Domain Name Dispute

    SHERMAN, Texas — A domain name registrar and the former owner of a portfolio of disputed internet domains saw their bids for stay and reconsideration of a preliminary injunction regarding control of the domains denied Aug. 20, when a Texas federal judge found that purported new evidence regarding transfer of the domains was not timely raised and failed to establish grounds for reconsideration (Domain Protection LLC v. Sea Wasp LLC, et al., No. 4:18-cv-00792, E.D. Texas, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140683).

  • August 20, 2019

    9th Circuit Mostly Affirms Injunction, Fees Award In Oracle, Rimini Copyright Suit

    PORTLAND, Ore. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 16 upheld a trial court’s decision on remand to maintain a $28.5 million attorney fees award for Oracle USA Inc. in a long-running software license copyright infringement suit against Rimini Street Inc., finding no abuse of discretion in the ruling (Oracle USA Inc., et al. v. Rimini Street Inc., et al., No. 18-16554, 9th Cir.).

  • August 19, 2019

    Blind Domino’s Patron Opposes Certiorari In Website ADA Accessibility Suit

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that held that the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) applies to websites and mobile apps was a matter of first impression that did not create a circuit split, a blind man tells the U.S. Supreme Court in an Aug. 14 brief opposing a petition for certiorari by Domino’s Pizza LLC regarding related mandated accommodations (Domino’s Pizza LLC v. Guillermo Robles, No. 18-1539, U.S. Sup.).

  • August 15, 2019

    LGBTQ Content Creators Sue YouTube For Discriminatory Censorship, Restrictions

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — In a complaint filed Aug. 13 in California federal court, a group of plaintiffs involved in creating LGBTQ-themed content that was posted on YouTube LLC’s online video-sharing platform claim that YouTube and its parent company Google LLC engage in discriminatory viewpoint-based censorship of their content, bringing claims including civil rights violations and unfair competition (Divino Group LLC, et al. v. Google LLC, et al., No. 5:19-cv-04749, N.D. Calif.).

  • August 14, 2019

    Twitch May Subpoena ISPs To Identify Anonymous Posters Of Offensive Content

    SAN FRANCISCO — In an Aug. 7 order, a California federal judge found that Twitch Interactive Inc. had shown good cause to conduct early discovery to identify anonymous defendants who posted objectionable content on its video-streaming platform by subpoenaing internet service providers (ISPs) and other companies to obtain information to identify the Doe defendants for the purpose of pursuing trademark infringement and other claims against them (Twitch Interactive Inc. v. John and Jane Does 1 through 100, No. 3:19-cv-03418, N.D. Calif., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132842).

  • August 14, 2019

    Author Brings 1st Amendment, Fraud, Privacy, Conspiracy Claims Against Facebook

    SAN FRANCISCO — In a wide-ranging, 18-count complaint filed Aug. 7 in California federal court, an author and political activist says that Facebook Inc. violated his constitutional rights by blocking his account and sharing his private information with third parties, also alleging claims including conspiracy, computer fraud and breach of contract (Robert Zimmerman, et al. v. Facebook Inc., et al., No. 3:19-cv-04591, N.D. Calif.).

  • August 14, 2019

    California High Court: Unruh Suit Against Website Does Not Require A Transaction

    SAN FRANCISCO — A man suing an online business for discrimination under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act does not need to “enter into an agreement or transaction with the business” to pursue his claims, the California Supreme Court ruled Aug. 12, finding that encountering discriminatory terms connected to a service he intended to use was sufficient to establish standing to sue (Robert E. White v. Square Inc., No. S249248, Calif. Sup., 2019 Cal. LEXIS 5946).

  • August 13, 2019

    Injunction Issued In Father, Son Lawyers’ Trademark Cybersquatting Dispute

    CHARLESTON, S.C. — A South Carolina attorney was temporarily enjoined from using his name online or elsewhere as a trademark related to his legal services on Aug. 9, when a South Carolina federal judge determined that his father, who has the same name and also practices law, was likely to succeed on trademark infringement and cybersquatting claims against his son (George Sink, P.A. Injury Lawyers v. George Sink II Law Firm LLC, et al., No. 2:19-cv-01206, D. S.C., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134819).

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