Gmail Terms of Service Apply to reCAPTCHA During Account Formation–Rojas-Lozano v. Google
This lawsuit against Google alleges that Google unfairly benefits from deploying a CAPTCHA process when users sign up for free gmail accounts. Specifically, the complaint alleged that Google unnecessarily included a second image in the CAPTCHA, and it relies on users…
Jawbone Plaintiff Can Invoke California Choice of Law Provision in Service Agreement
This is a lawsuit against Jawbone, a fitness tracker app, alleging that Jawbone’s battery life was significantly shorter than promised, and that it failed to accurately track and measure movement, calorie expenditure, and sleep: [plaintiff] appeared inactive when he had…
Second Circuit Enforces Terms Hyperlinked In Confirmation Email–Starkey v. G Adventures
Plaintiff Starkey booked a trip online through G Adventures. She alleges a G Adventures employee assaulted her during the trip. She sued G Adventures in the Southern District of New York. That court dismissed her lawsuit based on a forum…
AARP Defeats Lawsuit for Sharing Information With Facebook and Adobe
Plaintiff sued AARP alleging that AARP violated its privacy policy (link to policy effective April 2015) by allowing Adobe and Facebook to collect PII about plaintiff. The court says there’s not a sufficient allegation of violation of AARP’s privacy policy…
9th Circuit Rejects VPPA Claims Against Netflix For Intra-Household Disclosures
Plaintiffs sued Netflix under the Video Privacy Protection Act for Netflix’s display of a subscriber’s queue and recommendation list on televisions connected to the subscriber’s account. In other words, if a household is sitting around in front of a television that accesses someone’s…
Is Amazon Liable For IP Violations By Its Marketplace Vendors? (Forbes Cross-Post)
Animal-shaped pillows are cute and fluffy, except when they spur litigation. Recently, the Milo & Gabby brand sued Amazon for IP infringement because merchants allegedly sold knockoffs of its “Cozy Companion Pillowcases.” Amazon has successfully avoided IP liability for its…
If You’re Going To Incorporate Online T&Cs Into a Printed Contract, Do It Right–Holdbrook v. PCS
The plaintiff runs a pediatric dentistry. It retained defendant PCS to provide cloud services. The dentistry alleges that PCS subsequently locked it out of the cloud services improperly. The dentistry sued PCS for the lockout, and PCS sought to arbitrate…
Seventh Circuit: Data Breach Victims Have Standing Based on Future Harm
Plaintiffs sued Neiman Marcus on behalf of a putative class alleging claims arising out of a 2013 data breach. Neiman Marcus informed its customers (in 2014) that an attack had occurred and 350,000 cards had been exposed. Neiman Marcus first…
Clickthrough Agreement Upheld–Whitt v. Prosper
I’m way behind in blogging clickthrough agreement cases, but I’m prioritizing this opinion because of its simplicity. Whitt, who is deaf, sought a loan via a “peer-to-peer lending service” called Prosper. To confirm his identity, Whitt needed to make a…
Troubling Trademark Ruling Over Amazon’s Internal Search Results–MTM v. Amazon (Forbes Cross-Post)
When a consumer asks a retailer for a product the retailer doesn’t carry, how should the retailer respond? A recent federal appellate court opinion suggested that Amazon.com gave the wrong answers to consumers searching for a watch brand that it…