Misjoinder Dooms SAD Scheme Patent Case–Wang v. Schedule A Defendants
35 U.S.C. § 299 limits joinder in patent cases to defendants who infringe using “the same accused product or process.” Congress enacted this requirement to restrict patent trolls who were filing lawsuits against defendants who had nothing in common but…
Ninth Circuit Upholds “Sign-in-Wrap”–Keebaugh v. Warner Bros.
This is a false advertising lawsuit again the mobile app game Game of Thrones: Conquest. The account formation process included a screen where a user could proceed only by clicking on the “play” button: Warner Bros. sought to send the…
They Should Have Used a Dickwrap–Weeks v. Interactive Life Forms
Brinan Weeks claims to be a comedian. I strongly suspect this lawsuit is an extension of his routine or that he’s using it to generate new material. He claims: he purchased a device called a Stamina Training Unit (STU) from…
Section 230 Preempts Clean Air Act Lawsuit Over “Defeat Device” Apps—U.S. v. EZ Lynk
This case involves “defeat devices.” When installed on a car, they suppress or bypass emission controls designed to protect the environment. It’s terrible that anyone uses defeat devices because we urgently must do more, not less, to prevent climate change….
Roblox Must Defend Illegal Gambling Claims–Colvin v. Roblox
[A reminder that I don’t do April Fools’ pranks.] The court summarizes the allegations: Roblox has a virtual currency designed for use on its platform called “Robux.” Users can buy Robux and exchange them on the platform for in-game experiences….
TOS Formation Isn’t Hard to Do Right…Is It?–Tejon v. Zeus
Zeus Networks is a paywalled video site of “influencer”-produced content. 🙄 The plaintiffs allege that Zeus violated the VPPA. 🙄🙄 Zeus tries to direct the lawsuit to arbitration per its TOS, but the court says its TOS failed. Here’s the…
Ninth Circuit Does More Ninth Circuit Things in its Latest Section 230 Ruling–Diep v. Apple
Yet another cryptocurrency fraud case. 🙄 I previously described this case: This lawsuit relates to the “Toast Plus” app that was available in Apple’s app store. The plaintiffs claim it was a spoof app designed to steal cryptocurrency worth $5k…
Tubi’s TOS Formation Fails–Campos v. Tubi
This is a Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) case 🙄 against the video streaming platform Tubi. Tubi sought to send the case to arbitration per its TOS. The court says no. The account signup page on mobile devices looked like…
The SAD Scheme as an Institutional Failure
[These are my rough-draft talk notes from a recent workshop of trademark law professors.] The SAD Scheme involves a trademark owner suing dozens/hundreds of defendants using a sealed complaint, getting an ex parte TRO, and then having the online marketplaces…
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…