Copyright Takedown Notices Don’t Require Services to Find and Remove Other Identical Copies–Athos v. YouTube
I previously summarized this case: Athos owns the copyrights to many classic Mexican films. Users regularly upload its film clips to YouTube. These uploads have irritated Athos since 2014. However, Athos rejected YouTube’s fast-lane options for copyright owners (such as…
DMCA 512(c) Safe Harbor Applies to Embedding–Harrington v. Pinterest
This is a long-running class action copyright case (filed in 2020!) led by the photographer Blaine Harrington (now deceased). The plaintiffs complain about user-uploaded photos appearing in Pinterest’s off-website notifications to its users (e.g., email, in-app, and mobile push). This…
2025 Internet Law Year-in-Review
2025 is the Trump 2.0 era, so you won’t find much upbeat news in this Internet Law year-in-review. 10. Are Websites Legally Equivalent to Exploding Coke Bottles? Traditionally, tort law distinguishes between tangible items (chattels) and intangible services. Several doctrines…
Schedule A: Ten Notable Developments in 2025 (Guest Blog Post)
By Sarah Fackrell, Professor of Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law It’s been a busy year on the Schedule A beat. In reflecting on the year, I’ve put together this quick round-up of ten of the top developments, in (rough)…
Google Can Assert a DMCA 512(d) Defense–Cengage v. Google (Catch-Up Post)
Textbook publishers are suing Google for its alleged role in facilitating what they consider to be mass piracy. In June 2025, the court partially denied Google’s motion to dismiss. Still remaining in the case are the plaintiffs’ contributory copyright infringement…
Are Robots.txt Instructions Legally Binding?–Ziff Davis v. OpenAI
Robots.txt files express a website’s preferences for robot access. Despite their venerability, there are not many cases discussing the legal implications of robots.txt files and robot exclusion headers.[FN] As a result, we still don’t know if they are legally effective…
Court Authorizes Unmasking Subpoena in Copyright Case–In re DMCA Subpoena to GoDaddy
The copyright owner Tamaris claims that 100+ websites, including “casinoestelar.com” and “powerbet.win,” infringe their copyrights. The copyright owner obtained a 512(h) unmasking subpoena and served it on GoDaddy. GoDaddy notified the site operator, who asked the court to quash the…
Copyright Lawsuits Over Embedding Are Still a Thing
After the Ninth Circuit’s Hunley v. Instagram ruling in 2023, I naively assumed that the case established essential precedent that would quickly end other legal challenges to embedding. WRONG! The anti-embedding cases seem to be going strong, especially in SDNY….
YouTuber Loses Account Suspension Case Again–Hall v. YouTube
This is a futile account termination/content removal case, like dozens before it. Prior blog post. So I’m blogging this ruling for completion, not significance. After the prior dismissal, the YouTuber filed an amended complaint: The FAC complains that YouTube engaged…
Using a Meme in Your Advertising? Clear the Publicity Rights–FJerry v. Oasis Energy
This case involves a photo from the “Dude With Sign” meme series, featuring Seth Phillips in the titular role: An advertiser, Oasis Energy, modified the meme to promote its offerings in two social media posts: FJerry owns both the copyright…