Copyright Registrations for Emoticons and Emojis
[This is the first of a series of excerpts from my Emojis and the Law paper. Note that I’ve created a new blog category for “Emojis”–the first new category in years!] In my Emojis and the Law paper, I analyzed…
Your Movements Shall Be Traced: The New EU Regulation on Cross-Border Portability (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble On May 18, 2017, the European Parliament adopted with amendments the EU Cross-Border Portability Regulation (Regulation (EU) of the European Parliament and of the Council on cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market)….
How a Chipmunk Emoji Cost an Israeli Texter $2,200
by Gabriella Ziccarelli and Eric Goldman [Eric’s introduction: Gabriella is a star SCU Law alum and an associate at Blank Rome in DC. She is also a former Internet Law student of mine. As a teacher, it’s gratifying to have a former student…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Over Material Support for Terrorists–Cohen v. Facebook
We’ve seen a cluster of lawsuits against social media sites based on their alleged provision of material support to terrorists. The first substantive ruling–in Fields v. Twitter, now on appeal to the Ninth Circuit–was a decisive plaintiff loss, casting a…
Revisiting the Discoverability of Facebook Account Activity–Gordon v. TGR
The facts of this case are fairly typical. The plaintiff was hit by a truck. She sued the truck company and driver. In discovery, the defendants requested that she “download and produce an electronic copy of your Facebook account history”…
Google Gets Big Ninth Circuit Win That Its Eponymous Trademark Isn’t Generic–Elliott v. Google
The Ninth Circuit ruled that “Google” isn’t a generic trademark. This isn’t a surprise because a district court already reached this conclusion in 2014. See my prior blog post, “Google Successfully Defends Its Most Valuable Asset In Court.” Still, the…
1-800 Contacts Charges Higher Prices Than Its Online Competitors, But They Are OK With That–FTC v. 1-800 Contacts
As you recall, the FTC has taken the position that 1-800 Contacts’ agreement with competitors, via settlement agreements, not to bid on each other trademarks as keywords violates antitrust laws. Prior blog posts: * FTC Sues 1-800 Contacts For Restricting…
Lawsuit Against Ripoff Report Dropped After Discovery–Vision Security v. Xcentric (Guest Blog Post)
By guest bloggers Jeffrey J. Hunt and Rachel Lassig Wertheimer [Eric’s introduction: this post is written by lawyers who represented Ripoff Report in one of their multitudinous lawsuits. Because the authors were also advocates in this case, you might assume this…
How Is Texting a Dick Pic Like Masturbating in a Person’s Presence?–State v. Decker
My apologies for the indelicate headline. If you’re reading this because you’re hoping for some salacious insights regarding sexting, dick pics or masturbation, this post will disappoint you. An obvious protip: taking advice from a law professor on such topics…
To Geoblock, or Not To Geoblock – Is That Still a Question? (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble Should your client – an internet content provider or service provider – geoblock? Your client might geolocate – that is, it might determine an internet user’s physical location and then localize content to adjust the…