Should Copyright Preemption Moot Anti-Scraping TOS Terms? (Guest Blog Post)
…fair use argument under copyright laws. But fair use isn’t a defense to a breach of contract claim. Which makes the question of copyright preemption of online contracts a vitally…
YouTuber Loses Lawsuit Demanding $22/View–Ray v. Google
…meaning of the YPP Terms governing payment under the program. As such, there can be no breach because Google had no obligation to provide Ray with a fixed dollar amount…
Apple’s App Store Can Reject Unwanted Apps–Coronavirus Reporter v. Apple
…Contract Breach. Apple has the sole discretion to accept or reject apps, which is a hard provision to breach. Implications. Antitrust law is a terrible tool for regulating content moderation,…
VRBO Qualifies for Section 230–Wiener v. Miller
…a “special” relationship and does not create a requisite duty. Breach of Contract/Warranty The court says the breach of contract/warranty claim is just an attempt to work around 230. It…
Facebook Can Reject Unwanted Ads–Newton v. Meta
…Facebook declined to post plaintiffs’ content. That is a quintessential publishing decision for which Facebook is “perforce immune.” This is true even with respect to the contract breach claim, despite…
Lawsuit Over Twitter Suspension Fails Again–Zhang v. Twitter
…tried the breach-of-contract workaround, but the court says flatly: “There is no exception under Section 230 for breach of contract claims.” Cite to King v. Facebook and Murphy v. Twitter….
Web Scraping for Me, But Not for Thee (Guest Blog Post)
…Data, Twitter’s lawyers filed three claims: breach of contract, tortious interference with a contract, and unjust enrichment. Lawyers are increasingly confident that courts will enforce the breach of contract claim…
Court Doesn’t Expect YouTube to Moderate Content Perfectly–Newman v. Google
…breach of contract dispute.” The court discusses this language that YouTube added to its community guidelines in 2021: We enforce these Community Guidelines using a combination of human reviewers and…
Another Doctor Learns Why It’s Unwise to Sue Patients
…consumer complaints, [and] reviews or ratings of businesses.” This is an easy call. Hah’s Prima Facie Case. Hah’s filings focused on breach of contract, so his other claims weren’t properly…
Instagram Account Termination Case Fails–Johnson v. Instagram
…the plaintiff’s claims: Breach of Contract. The TOS allows Instagram to disable accounts in many circumstances, so there wasn’t a contract breach. Plus, the TOS waived lost profits, so Johnson…