Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

November 13, 2023
9th Circuit Upholds Scope Of Relief In Row Over ‘Northpointe’ Mark

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in Arizona had “an ample basis for finding” that a defaulting defendant’s use of “NorthPointe” would likely cause confusion with a plaintiff’s “Northpointe at Vistancia” trademark, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has concluded.
November 13, 2023
11th Circuit Upholds Jury Instructions, Sanctions Ruling In Bitcoin Ownership Row

ATLANTA — Deferring to a trial court’s ruling, an 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel found no error or abuse of discretion in the lower court’s jury instructions, vacating of a sanctions ruling or denial of a new trial motion in finding that a Florida man and his deceased colleague did not have a bitcoin mining partnership that would have entitled the decedent’s estate to half of the value of the voluminous cache of mined bitcoin.
November 10, 2023
SEC Blasts ‘Absurd’ Arguments From Crypto Platform, Says Case Should Proceed

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A cryptocurrency platform is attempting to tear down decades of precedent on securities laws to avoid repercussions for operating as an unlicensed security and misconstrues a longstanding securities precedent in support of its claims, the Securities and Exchange Commission says in a memorandum in opposition to the platform’s motion to dismiss the commission’s complaint against it filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia.
November 10, 2023
Lending Platform Says Judge Misapplied Scienter Factor, Should Fully Dismiss Suit

CINCINNATI — A day after a lending platform filed a motion asking a federal judge in Ohio to reconsider a ruling that claims made by shareholders about the platform’s use of artificial intelligence to approve loans are actionable, several investment funds filed a motion to intervene in the suit, seeking to ensure that their claims are preserved.
November 09, 2023
Indiana Federal Judge Issues Injunction In Computer Code Theft Row

HAMMOND, Ind. — Allegations by Illinois Central Railroad Co. (IC) that a former employee stole its computer code and then attempted to copyright the code will proceed with a preliminary injunction in place, a federal judge in Indiana has ruled.
November 06, 2023
DOJ: Deny Kennedy’s Motion To Intervene In State Action Social Media Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should deny a motion by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to intervene in an appeal of a presently stayed injunction preventing the Biden administration and other governmental parties from getting involved in social media platforms’ content moderation decisions, the Department of Justice (DOJ) says in a brief filed on behalf of the government, arguing that the presidential candidate and his co-plaintiffs in a similar lawsuit against the government have not established the necessary “rare, unusual, or extraordinary” circumstances that would warrant intervention.
November 06, 2023
Divided Panel Upholds $5M Attorney Fee Award In Longstanding Patent Row

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 3 weighed in for a third time in a dispute over patents allegedly infringed by Amazon.com Inc.’s “S3” and “CloudFront” products, this time affirming in a divided ruling a California federal judge’s $5,187,203.99 attorney fee award on behalf of the e-tailer and Twitch Interactive Inc.
November 03, 2023
U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Coinbase Appeal Over Arbitration Agreement Clauses

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 3 granted a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Inc. regarding the enforcement and application of delegation clauses in determining who is tasked with resolving an arbitrability dispute.
November 03, 2023
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of UCL, Omission Claims In Intel MDL

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Nov. 2 affirmed the dismissal of consumers’ putative class claims in a multidistrict litigation against Intel Corp. accusing it of concealing security vulnerabilities in its microprocessors, including claims for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL), after finding that Intel didn’t have a duty to disclose the issues and didn’t make statements that would deceive a reasonable consumer.
November 02, 2023
Epic, Google Debate Whether Antitrust Suit Merits Jury Or Bench Trial

SAN FRANCISCO — With a trial date fast approaching, Google LLC and Epic Games Inc. submitted briefs Nov. 1, at a California federal judge’s instruction, taking opposite positions on whether a jury or bench trial is appropriate in a consolidated antitrust suit over the Google Play Store in light of a just-announced settlement between Google and co-plaintiff Match Group LLC.
November 02, 2023
Judge Allows Some Copyright Claims Against AI Apps

SAN FRANCISCO — Where a cartoonist alleges that her protected works were scraped from the internet and used to train artificial intelligence, her copyright claims survive motions to dismiss, but the balance of the California unfair competition law (UCL) and other claims fail, a federal judge in the state said Oct. 30 in granting leave to amend a class action.
November 01, 2023
Panel Orders Transfer Of False Advertising, Copyright Claims Against TikTok

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 31 granted a petition for writ of mandamus by TikTok Inc. and others, agreeing that allegations that the popular video sharing app engages in false advertising and copyright infringement should proceed in California federal court.
November 01, 2023
Justices Ponder State Actor Standards In Back-To-Back Social Media Suits

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Weighing questions of when a public official is acting as a private citizen or in a governmental capacity, the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 31 heard oral arguments in two cases addressing when an official’s decision to ban someone from a social media page that includes posts related to matters connected with his or her position constitutes state action in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
October 31, 2023
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Seeks To Intervene In High Court Social Media Coercion Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Six days after the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in a suit that raises questions about state action, standing and violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moved to intervene in the case, asserting that he was “specifically attacked by the Federal Government’s efforts to induce social media censorship.”
October 31, 2023
Meta Can’t Persuade Appeals Court To Transfer Patent Case To California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An order by a federal judge in Texas directing intradistrict transfer of allegations that Meta Platforms Inc. infringed six virtual reality patents while denying the social media giant’s bid for transfer to California federal court will stand, the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 30.
October 27, 2023
Roblox Moves To Dismiss Mothers’ UCL Suit Accusing It Of ‘Illegal Gambling’

SAN FRANCISCO — Roblox Corp., the operator of an online video game platform played by millions of children, moved to dismiss a putative class complaint filed in California federal court accusing it of allowing third-party companies to operate gambling games on Roblox, writing that it provided only “neutral tools” and does not actually host the companies’ alleged gambling activities.
October 26, 2023
9th Circuit Vacates Denial Of Motion To Dismiss Minor’s $5M Suit For Lootbox Sales

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Oct. 25 vacated a district court’s ruling denying video game company Blizzard Entertainment Inc.’s motion to dismiss or compel arbitration of a minor’s putative class action accusing it of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by deceptively marketing sales of in-game “lootboxes” to minors, citing “serious questions” regarding the court’s jurisdiction and the plaintiff’s standing.
October 26, 2023
Court Remands ChatGPT Defamation Case, Finds Motion To Dismiss Moot

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia said OpenAI LLC’s confession that it couldn’t support federal jurisdiction required remand of a case alleging that ChatGPT defamed a radio host and denial of its motion to dismiss as moot.
October 26, 2023
SEC Drops Aiding And Abetting Claims Against Crypto Firm Executives

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York approved a stipulation of voluntary dismissal filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, dismissing claims of aiding and abetting against two executives of a crypto asset firm the commission accused of selling cryptocurrencies without registering them as a security.
October 25, 2023
Panel Partly Reverses Denial Of Anti-SLAPP Motion Against OnlyFans Account Manager

LOS ANGELES — A California appellate panel partly reversed a trial court’s denial of a model’s anti-Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) motion against her OnlyFans account’s former management company, which she accuses of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL), after finding that the manager’s cross-claim applies to speech protected by litigation privilege.
October 25, 2023
Judge: Discovery Sought In Remanded WhatsApp Spyware Dispute Is Premature

OAKLAND, Calif. — In light of a pending dismissal motion and a lack of reciprocal discovery responses, a California federal judge on Oct. 24 denied an Israeli spyware firm’s request that WhatsApp Inc. be required to serve amended responses to its requests for admission (RFAs) in a lawsuit over alleged computer fraud.
October 24, 2023
2 Amici File Briefs Supporting Southwest In Worker’s Protected Speech Case

NEW ORLEANS — Two nonprofits filed separate amicus curiae briefs in the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals supporting an airline’s arguments that a jury and trial court erred in finding that a flight attendant was fired for sending social media messages about abortion and in ordering the airline’s attorneys to attend religious liberty training from Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF); meanwhile, ADF filed its own amicus brief in support of neither side defending its ability to “provide comprehensive and professional legal training about the religious liberty requirements of Title VII” of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
October 23, 2023
High Court Stays Injunction On Biden’s Social Media Policies, Grants Certiorari

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An injunction preventing the federal government from influencing or coercing social media platforms in their content moderation decisions was stayed on Oct. 20 by a divided U.S. Supreme Court, which treated the government’s application to stay the injunction as a petition for certiorari to consider questions of state action, standing and First Amendment violations.
October 20, 2023
Roblox User Names, Serves 2nd Defendant In Defamation Suit For Tweets, Postings

ORLANDO, Fla. — In conjunction with a second amended complaint (SAC) in which she identified a second defendant in a lawsuit in Florida federal court over purportedly defamatory postings, a content creator on the Roblox online gaming platform issued a summons on Oct. 19 on the former Jane Doe defendant, who she said was identified through discovery subpoenas served on Roblox and Twitter Inc.
October 19, 2023
Google: UCL Plaintiffs Can’t Show Violations, Injury In Bard AI Chatbot Case

SAN FRANCISCO — Class action plaintiffs who complain that Google LLC trained artificial intelligence chatbot Bard on personal and copyrighted information trade “prolixity for precision,” fail to allege a privacy or property interest in material publicly posted on the internet and lack sufficient allegations that they read a privacy policy or can demonstrate an underlying statutory violation, the company says in a motion to dismiss unfair competition law (UCL), copyright and other claims filed in a California federal court.