More Bad News for Uber’s Contract Formation–Ramos v. Uber
In last year’s Meyer v. Uber, Uber won an important ruling in the Second Circuit upholding its online contract formation with riders. Still, the contract formation news has not been all good for Uber. For example, in last year’s Metter v….
Craigslist Sex Sting Prosecution Rejected as “Outrageous Misconduct”–Washington v. Solomon
This case’s setup resembles dozens or hundreds of similar cases I’ve read. In 2014, a law enforcement officer (in this case, Skagit County Sheriff’s detective Theresa Luvera) posted a sex solicitation on Craigslist’s casual encounters. As we’ve discussed before, Craigslist’s…
Who Needs a Copyright Small Claims Court? Evidence from the U.K.’s IP Enterprise Court (Guest Blog Post)
by guest bloggers Christian Helmers, Yassine Lefouili, Brian J. Love & Luke McDonagh Amidst recent excitement surrounding the Music Modernization Act (which passed the House last month) and the CLASSICS Act (the subject of Senate Judiciary hearings last week), it would…
YouTube Defeats Another Remove-and-Relocate Lawsuit–Song Fi v. Google
The YouTube “remove-and-relocate” cases involve similar facts. A YouTuber uploaded a video and promoted it. YouTube suspected irregularities with the promotion, removed the video from its initial URL (breaking inbound links, stripping the comments, and resetting the like and view…
“Nerd’s Version of a Fist Fight” Doesn’t Support Injunction Against Blogger–Santilli v. Van Erp
Santilli claims to have developed a telescope that can detect antimatter. Van Erp is dubious about that claim. Van Erp ran a blog that included posts like “The Continuing Stupidity of Ruggero Santilli” and “More Santilli Shenanigans.” The court says:…
A DMCA Section 512(f) Case Survives Dismissal–ISE v. Longarzo (Catch-up Post)
I’m blogging this case now, even though it came out a few months ago, because we see so few 512(f) cases that make any progress at all. At its core, the litigants dispute ownership over a TV show, “The Weekend…
The Ninth Circuit STILL Thinks Keyword Metatags Matter in 2018–Adidas v. Skechers
Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit ruled about trademarked stripes on tennis shoes. To me, legally weaponizing dots in three lines on a shoe predictably leads to wasteful and possibly anti-consumer litigation. However, instead of critiquing the opinion generally, I’ll isolate just…
Section 230 Doesn’t Provide a Basis To Remove Cases to Federal Court–A.R.K. v. Grindr
The court summarizes this case: Plaintiff alleges that Grindr and the individual defendants engaged in a conspiracy to produce and disseminate sexually explicit photographs and pornography, with Grindr providing the platform for anonymous meetings, communication, and dissemination. Section 230 may…
Another Court Says Competitive Keyword Advertising Doesn’t Cause Confusion
This is a lawsuit between two Alzheimer’s-related non-profit organizations, the Alzheimer’s Association (the more established and better-funded group) and the Alzheimer’s Foundation (the relative upstart). I blogged a prior 2015 ruling. The potential for brand collisions in consumers’ minds seems…
Recapping a Year’s Worth of Section 230 Cases That Got Stuck in My Blogging Queue
[Though most of these rulings are defense-favorable, Congress recently eviscerated Section 230 and isn’t done ruining its greatest online policy masterpiece] Twitter Defeats Defamation Claim As part of a custody dispute, a former spouse allegedly disparaged the other spouse in…