No "Contract By Tweet" for Plaintiff Who Pitches Movie Idea via Social Media

No “Contract By Tweet” for Plaintiff Who Pitches Movie Idea via Social Media

This is an idea theft case based on the idea behind “Creed” the movie, a spinoff of the famous Rocky movies. Jarrett Alexander alleged that he came up with the idea for Creed, drafted the screenplay, and put together a…

Non-Compete Applies To Facebook Page for Unlaunched Business--Joseph v. O'Laughlin

Non-Compete Applies To Facebook Page for Unlaunched Business–Joseph v. O’Laughlin

This is another case where the defendant allegedly solicits customers or employees over social media in the face of a restrictive covenant. We recently blogged a couple of cases involving solicitations over LinkedIn. This case involves solicitations over Facebook. O’Laughlin…

Backpage Executives Must Face Money Laundering Charges Despite Section 230--People v. Ferrer

Backpage Executives Must Face Money Laundering Charges Despite Section 230–People v. Ferrer

Yesterday, a California superior court judge dismissed pimping charge (due to Section 230) but did not dismiss money laundering charges against three Backpage executives. This ruling has potentially significant consequences for Backpage and its executives, the pending Congressional bills to…

Browsewrap/Clickwrap Distinction Vexes Another Court--Nevarez v. Ticketmaster

Browsewrap/Clickwrap Distinction Vexes Another Court–Nevarez v. Ticketmaster

We just blogged about online contract formation yesterday, but it’s worth revisiting the topic so quickly because this case demonstrates another crash-and-burn failure of the browsewrap-clickwrap dichotomy. How many times must the “wrap” categorization fail before judges recognize that it’s…

LinkedIn Enjoined From Blocking Scraper--hiQ v. LinkedIn

LinkedIn Enjoined From Blocking Scraper–hiQ v. LinkedIn

hiQ Labs has scraped LinkedIn public profiles for several years. hiQ offers two products, entirely predicated on LinkedIn-scraped data: (1) a prediction to employers which employees were mostly likely to be recruited away, and (2) a summary of employee skills….

Trademark Injunction Issued Against Print-on-Demand Website--Harley Davidson v. SunFrog

Trademark Injunction Issued Against Print-on-Demand Website–Harley Davidson v. SunFrog

The print-on-demand business is a legally risky one. As I recently blogged, in June a court ruled that Zazzle did not qualify for the DMCA 512 safe harbor. This ruling is even more troubling. Are the days of print-on-demand services…

Section 230 Helps VRBO Defeat Claim Over Fraudulent Listing–Hiam v. Homeaway

[It’s impossible to blog on Section 230 rulings right now without acknowledging that Section 230 is facing its most serious threat to date. I doubt the bills would change the result in this ruling, but the bills would so radically…

Courts Keep Shredding Online Contract Formation Processes--McGhee v. NAB; Applebaum v. Lyft

Courts Keep Shredding Online Contract Formation Processes–McGhee v. NAB; Applebaum v. Lyft

A couple more online contract formation cases to enliven your Saturday: McGhee v. NAB This case involves mobile credit card processing services. The plaintiffs are merchants who think they were overcharged for card readers. The vendor invoked the arbitration clause…

1H 2017 Quick Links, Part 2 (Privacy, Security)

Privacy *  Vigil v. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., 2017 WL 398404 (SDNY Jan. 30, 2017): The plaintiffs allege that they agreed to the MyPlayer terms and conditions, that NBA 2K15 scanned their faces to create personalized basketball avatars, and that…