Laura Loomer Loses Litigation (Again)–Loomer v. Zuckerberg
Loomer produces trash content, which got her banned at Facebook and Twitter. In response, she has brought several trash lawsuits, which have gone as well as you’d expect. Her latest trash lawsuit claimed that social media, the government, and Procter…
Photo Licensing Service Qualifies for DMCA 512(c) Safe Harbor–McGucken v. ShutterStock
McGucken is a professional photographer who has appeared on the blog before. He claims that third party “contributors” uploaded his copyrighted photos to ShutterStock as part of ShutterStock’s licensing program. Specifically, McGucken claims that a total of 337 images were…
SHOP SAFE Act Reintroduced, Because Some Congressmembers Really Want to Kill Online Marketplaces
Two years ago, I covered the introduction of the SHOP SAFE Act, which would create a new species of trademark liability for online marketplaces. My 5,000 word post deconstructed the bill in detail so check it out to see what…
Facebook Can Reject Unwanted Ads–Newton v. Meta
This is yet another online content removal lawsuit, and it reaches the obvious and inevitable result that dozens of cases have reached before it. The plaintiffs sought to run Facebook ads for the movie “Beautiful Blue Eyes,” a movie about…
Lawsuit Over Twitter Suspension Fails Again–Zhang v. Twitter
A Twitter user sued over his account suspension. The court dismissed the case without prejudice. Blog post coverage of that ruling here. The user tried again. Same result. Section 230. Twitter qualifies for the standard three-element test for 230: Twitter…
Facebook Easily Defeats Lawsuit Over User Posts–Hicks v. Bradford
Whoa, what a flashback. 😵 We used to see lawsuits like this 15+ years ago, but we don’t see them any more because they are so obviously doomed by Section 230. This case involves a shooting of police officers. Multiple…
Ninth Circuit Easily Dismisses Account Termination Case–King v. Facebook
This is a standard account termination case. The specific facts don’t matter to the outcome, but I enumerate a little more detail in my prior blog post. The 9th Circuit panel’s very short narrative includes: “there is no private right…
Ninth Circuit Reaffirms the “Server Test” for Direct Infringement of the Public Display Right — Hunley v. Instagram, LLC (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa Recently, the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed what has become known as the “server test”: in order to be held directly liable for violating the public display right, the alleged infringer must have a fixed “copy” of…
Section 230 Immunizes Facebook’s “Design and Architecture” Choices–M.P. v. Meta
This case involves the murderous attack by Dylann Roof against the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., killing nine African-Americans. A victim’s daughter sued Facebook, alleging that Facebook’s “design and architecture” radicalized Roof, and that should disqualify Facebook for Section…
Copyright Owner Can Proceed with Vicarious Infringement Claim Against eBay–Okolita v. eBay
Ellen Okolita developed bird costumes for children, took photos of her children wearing the costumes, and used the photos to sell about 8,000 costumes on Etsy (at her “Tree and Vine” store). Read a profile of her. (Sorry, I’m not…