This is a merchandise “counterfeiting” case. In a prior ruling in this case, a “jury determined that Defendants had willfully violated Penn State’s trademark and awarded Penn State $28,000 in compensatory damages.” The defendants challenged the jury results, including Penn…
[I’m so far behind in blogging the challenges to state Internet censorship laws. We’ll see if I can catch some of the ones I missed.] State censorship laws come in a variety of forms. Today’s post focuses on one of…
All eyes are on the social media addiction class action lawsuits in California federal and state courts, where the plaintiffs are getting close to conducting trials that pose existential implications for many of the major social media services. Meanwhile, in…
Shah alleges that “Woodbury and Facebook denied Shah, based on his age and gender, access to information about Woodbury’s educational services by choosing to make Woodbury’s advertisements on Facebook available only to a target demographic of female Facebook users between…
This case involves a photo from the “Dude With Sign” meme series, featuring Seth Phillips in the titular role: An advertiser, Oasis Energy, modified the meme to promote its offerings in two social media posts: FJerry owns both the copyright…
This is a pro se case. The court summarizes: “Meta purportedly banned or restricted [Karam’s] Facebook account, which allegedly prevented him from advertising his business or from engaging with potential customers through Marketplace or Facebook’s Buy/Sell Groups.” The court dismisses…
Comeback Media operates several media properties, including a sports site named “Next Impulse.” It publishes new articles and syndicates them to other websites, including Newsbreak. The syndication was a “non-contractual relationship” that generated $250k/month. [What is a “non-contractual relationship”? Sounds…
As part of their overall proclivity towards rights accretion, IP owners routinely stretch legal doctrines and request overreaching remedies. When IP owners proceed in court without opposition, they sometimes get away with those overreaches. But when a judge calls out…
The litigants are rival washing machine makers–GoPlus and Ningbo Yituo–who source their products from the same OEM, Ningbo Baike Electric Appliance. As a result, “the body patterns of Plaintiffs’ and Defendant’s washing machines are identical due to the shared use…
The plaintiff is octogenarian Barry Glazer, an attorney who has a fascinating history of running TV ads and who sells merch at his website that includes his tagline “Don’t urinate on my leg and tell me it’s raining.” [Note: If…