TikTok Defeats Lawsuit Over User’s Suicide–Nasca v. Bytedance
The court summarizes: The plaintiffs commenced this action in connection with the death by suicide of 16 year old Chase Nasca on February 18, 2022 after he walked in front of a train. Plaintiffs’ complaint alleges twelve causes of action…
Rounding Up Some Recent Copyright Decisions
A few recent copyright cases worthy of blog coverage, but not worthy of a standalone post. Omnia Studios Ltd. v. JD E-Commerce America Ltd., 2025 WL 961473 (W.D.N.Y. March 31, 2025) This case involves the service Joybuy, which listed items…
SAD Scheme-Style Case Falls Apart When the Defendant Appears in Court—King Spider v. Pandabuy
The parties’ names make this case sound more like a Hollywood blockbuster movie than a SAD Scheme-like case. This suit isn’t a classic SAD Scheme case because the plaintiffs went after the marketplace, not the merchants. This case involves the…
Facebook Defeats Armslist’s Account Termination Lawsuit–Armslist v. Facebook
In 2020, Facebook and Instagram terminated various Armslist-related accounts, and Facebook prevented users from sending the URL armslist.com in private messages. Armslist claims these actions were in response to government jawboning targeting Armslist. Armslist sued Facebook and Instagram, alleging that…
Viral DRM Awarded Damages for Its 512(f) Claims, But At What Cost?
Viral DRM is a copyright enforcement agency focused on extreme weather videos. The first time I blogged about them, they brought a SAD Scheme suit that initially resulted in an ex parte TRO. However, the case fell apart on further…
Roblox Faces Potentially Unlimited Copyright Liability—Robinson v. Binello
This case involves the Maple Leaf Rag song, composed by Scott Joplin. Even if you aren’t a ragtime aficionado, you may have heard this tune. Joplin’s song is in the public domain now. The plaintiff Robinson made a recording of…
Section 230 Applies to Consumer Reporting Agencies (But Only Sometimes)–Foley v. IRBsearch
[A reminder that I don’t do April Fools gags.] This lawsuit is against IRBsearch, a data aggregator of public records and other material allegedly scraped from the web. The plaintiffs claim that IRBsearch provided erroneous reports that denied them employment…
Rounding Up Recent Copyright and AI Rulings
It’s been a busy two weeks for copyright and AI cases. Thaler v. Perlmutter, No. 23-5233 (D.C. Cir. March 18, 2025) This case involved the completely AI-generated work, “A Recent Entrance to Paradise”: The copyright applicant, Thaler, disclaimed any human…
Are You Ready for MAGA to Weaponize Anti-Doxxing Statutes?–Watts v. Daily Kos
Wikipedia describes Anthony Watts as “a climate change denial blogger” who “opposes the scientific consensus on climate change.” The Daily Kos published an article about Watts, “Heartland Fundraising For Tony Watts’ $2,000 Thermometers To Compete With Global Temp Network,” that…
First Amendment Doesn’t Apply to Descriptions of Content Moderation Practices–Bride v. Snap
Last year, the Ninth Circuit said that plaintiffs could get around Section 230 in their lawsuit against the app maker YOLO because the app maker said it would ban users for inappropriate statements and would unmask harassers. This opinion raised…