Uber’s Contract Formation Process Fails (Again)–Cullinane v. Uber
The plaintiffs allege Uber made overcharges or improper surcharges. Uber moved to compel arbitration. The district court granted the motion, despite the lack of a leakproof contract formation mechanism. (Blog post mentioning the district court ruling here: “Courts Approve Terms…
Court Dismisses Privacy Claims Against Email Subscription Management Tool–Cooper v. UnrollMe
UnrollMe provides a service allowing users to opt-out of unwanted emails. It does this by getting its users’ email account login credentials, which allows UnrollMe to access users’ email inboxes. This lawsuit alleges that UnrollMe sold users’ data. (🚨 Irony level:…
Appeals Court Curbs FTC’s Enforcement of Security Standards–LabMD v. FTC
This is an FTC enforcement action against LabMD. A LabMD billing manager installed a peer-to-peer file-sharing application called LimeWire and designated the “my documents” folder on her computer for sharing. This folder contained a 1,718 page file with names, dates…
Court Allows “Battery by GIF” Claim to Proceed–Eichenwald v. Rivello
Journalist Kurt Eichenwald suffered a seizure after seeing a tweet with a strobe GIF. The sender tweeted the GIF allegedly knowing Eichenwald suffered from epilepsy. The sender was charged criminally, and Eichenwald also filed a civil suit. Defendant moved to…
TWiT’s Trademark Lawsuit Against Twitter Sent Back to the Drawing Board
The popular and long-running show “This Week in Tech,” commonly called TWiT, sued Twitter. TWiT provides audio and video content branded under the TWiT trademark. It alleges that Twitter’s offering of video services and content under the TWITTER brand infringes…
President Trump Violated the First Amendment by Blocking Users @realdonaldtrump
This is a lawsuit brought by Twitter users and the Knight Foundation against President Trump (and his social media strategist and press secretary). The lawsuit alleges that the President violates plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights by blocking them on Twitter. The…
Redfin Must Defend Copyright Suit Over Property Photos–Stross v. Redfin
Stross is a photographer who licenses his photographs to real estate agents. He licensed the photos through ACTRIS, a multiple listing service that compiles listings into a database for use by brokers and realtors. ACTRIS users who upload their photos…
Illinois Users’ Face-Scanning Privacy Lawsuit Against Facebook Headed to Trial
This is a class action asserting that Facebook’s face recognition and scanning practices violate the Illinois Biometric Privacy Act rights of Illinois users. The court previously rejected Facebook’s arguments based on choice of law and standing, and certified a class….
Bittersweet DMCA Safe Harbor Defense Win in Ninth Circuit–Ventura v. Motherless (Catch-Up Post)
Motherless runs a UGC site for adult content. None of its content is licensed from content producers. It is primarily ad-supported (85%), with the remaining revenues coming from subscriptions (but only 0.2% of active users are subscribers) and sales of schwag. For a…
First Amendment Doesn’t Protect Encouraging Readers to Make Anti-Semitic Attacks–Gersh v. Daily Stormer
Gersh, the plaintiff, is a realtor living in Whitefish, Montana. She heard about a planned protest of businesses housed in a building owned by Sherry Spencer, the mother of Richard Spencer. (Richard, among other things, went viral for getting punched…