Misjoinder Dooms SAD Scheme Patent Case–Wang v. Schedule A Defendants
35 U.S.C. § 299 limits joinder in patent cases to defendants who infringe using “the same accused product or process.” Congress enacted this requirement to restrict patent trolls who were filing lawsuits against defendants who had nothing in common but…
Ninth Circuit Upholds “Sign-in-Wrap”–Keebaugh v. Warner Bros.
This is a false advertising lawsuit again the mobile app game Game of Thrones: Conquest. The account formation process included a screen where a user could proceed only by clicking on the “play” button: Warner Bros. sought to send the…
Why Generative AI is Doomed
I was honored to deliver this year’s Nies Lecture at Marquette University Law School, with the provocative (but, I hope, accurately descriptive) title “Generative AI is Doomed.” My remarks. This is my first contribution to the AI academic literature. As…
Videogame Maker Has Implied License to Depict Copyrighted Tattoos–Hayden v. 2K
This is one of several copyright cases brought by tattoo artists against videogame makers for depicting athletes bearing their tattoos. This particular case, involving tattoo artist Hayden, videogame NBA 2K, and basketball players like LeBron James, reached a jury. The…
Zuckerberg Avoids Personal Liability for Social Media “Addiction”–In re Social Media Addiction
I never blogged the dual state and federal rulings in the Social Media Addiction cases from last Fall. I wrote up a 4,000 word draft about the state court ruling, but the federal ruling came out before I finished it….
Jawboning Defendants Are 6-for-6 in the Ninth Circuit–Hart v. Facebook
This is a routine jawboning case. Facebook and Twitter allegedly shut down Hart’s accounts for disseminating COVID misinformation. Hart claims he was targeted by the government. The district court dismissed the case (1, 2). The Ninth Circuit affirms in a…
Section 230 Applies to Tweeted Links to Defamatory Content–Coomer v. Donald J. Trump for President
This is another election integrity case. The plaintiff, Eric Coomer, worked for Dominion Voting. A conspiracy theory alleged that he planned to throw the 2020 presidential election against Trump. He sued various conspiracy theory traffickers for defamation. You would recognize…
They Should Have Used a Dickwrap–Weeks v. Interactive Life Forms
Brinan Weeks claims to be a comedian. I strongly suspect this lawsuit is an extension of his routine or that he’s using it to generate new material. He claims: he purchased a device called a Stamina Training Unit (STU) from…
The Supreme Court Didn’t Change Secondary Copyright Liability Standards in the Taamneh Ruling—In re Frontier
This is another case asserting that Internet access providers are liable for their subscribers’ copyright infringements. The IAP, Frontier, argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Taamneh modified the venerable standards for secondary copyright infringement. The court doesn’t agree. The…
SAVE THE DATE: Internet Law Works-in-Progress Conference, SCU, March 8, 2025
After a multi-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Internet Law Works-in-Progress conference is returning! (Some background about the series). The conference provides a venue for authors of Internet Law papers (broadly conceived) to workshop their drafts and get pre-publication…