Print-on-Demand Service Defeats Fish Illustrator’s Copyright Claim–Tomelleri v. Sunfrog
Tomelleri (who has appeared on this blog before) illustrates fishes (see court exhibit on the right). He sued a print-on-demand service (Sunfrog) over alleged IP violations of his illustrations. If that rings a bell, it’s because just yesterday I blogged…
Print-on-Demand Services Face More Legal Woes–Canvasfish v. Pixels
In the ongoing legal battles over print-on-demand services, RedBubble and (more recently) Printify have sometimes achieved favorable results by disaggregating all of the functions and acting solely as a marketing agent for the disaggregated vendors. These defense-favorable outcomes may work…
Comments on the NetChoice/Moody/Paxton SCOTUS Oral Arguments
In 2021, Florida and Texas enacted “social media censorship” laws. These laws were never serious policy proposals; instead, the legislatures simply wanted to signal to voters that they hated “Big Tech.” The laws assembled a multitude of disparate policy ideas…
Internet Access Providers Can Be Contributorily Liable for Subscribers’ Infringements–Sony Music v. Cox
As I’ve previously written, for many years after the DMCA passed, everyone assumed that 17 USC 512(a) completely shielded Internet access providers from liability for subscribers’ copyright infringements. Then, about a dozen years ago, the rightsowners coerced Internet access providers…
Snapchat Isn’t Liable for Offline Sexual Abuse–VV v. Meta
According to the complaint, a 12-year-old girl made a Snapchat account, connected with sexual predators on Snapchat, met them offline, and was sexually abused. She sued Snapchat for her harms. Snapchat successfully defends on Section 230 grounds. The contested issue…
The European Union’s Digital Services Act: In Force from This Saturday, February 17, 2024, Including for U.S. Intermediaries (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Prof. Marketa Trimble [Eric’s introductory note: I briefly addressed the DSA in this blog post, along with the attached meme. Otherwise, I generally try to avoid the DSA because it is so long, complicated, and mind-bending. To…
Boat Rental Marketplace Defeats Lawsuit Over Offline Boating Accident–In re Chaves
A rare case analyzing Section 230’s intersection with admiralty law. 🚢 The case involves GetMyBoat, an online marketplace for boat rentals. Listings are free, but GetMyBoat takes a cut of any booked transactions. A young woman, Lindsey Faith Partridge, used…
Retweeting as Copyright Infringement–Prepared Food Photos v. Chicken Joe’s
The issue is, what is (the copyright implication of retweeting a photo of) chicken? (head nod to Judge Friendly). * * * The plaintiff allegedly licenses a photo database to grocery stores for $12k/yr. The case involves one of those…
Online Marketplace Defeats Lawsuit Over Murder–Roland v. Letgo
I previously summarized this case: This is a tragic case involving the marketplace app Letgo. Using an alias, Brown listed a stolen car for sale on the app. The Rolands agreed to meet Brown in person to buy the car….
Section 230 Protects Zillow for Publishing Property Information–Choudhuri v. Specialized Loan
This lawsuit relates to a property foreclosure contested by the then-property owner, Choudhuri, who sued pro se. “Choudhuri appears to allege that Zillow ‘illegally’ published information regarding the property at issue on its website, including listing it ‘for auction.’” This…