Another 512(f) Claim Fails–Ningbo Mizhihe v Doe
The plaintiff is a Chinese vendor that claims copyright in unicorn images (see depictions on the right). The defendants are also vendors using unicorn images. The plaintiff accuses the defendants of infringing the plaintiff’s copyrights. In support of that, the…
Facebook Still Can’t Dismiss Sex Trafficking Victims’ Lawsuit in Texas State Court
Sex trafficking victims sued Facebook and Instagram in Texas state court for their alleged roles in the victimization. The victims’ claims are not FOSTA-based, even though the cases were filed after FOSTA became law. In May 2019, the trial court…
Section 230 Protects Hyperlinks in #MeToo “Whisper Network”–Comyack v. Giannella
This case involves what the defense calls a “whisper network,” described by Wikipedia as “an informal chain of information passed privately between women.” The subject of this whisper network is Comyack, a former bartender in New Jersey. However, the information…
2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230)
* Clarks v. Private Money Goldmine, 2020 WL 949946 (D. Md. Feb. 26, 2020): Plaintiff does contend, however, that Website Defendants are also content providers, and therefore not entitled to immunity in this case, because they published the Listing, provided…
Craigslist Denied Section 230 Immunity for Classified Ads from 2008–ML v. Craigslist
FOSTA always targeted Backpage; but with Backpage gone before FOSTA became law, it seemed inevitable that plaintiffs would eventually figure out how to deploy FOSTA against other targets. Yet, if you’d asked me to name a top 100 list of…
Section 230 Doesn’t Protect Advertising “Background Reports” on People–Lukis v. Whitepages
Whitepages compiles and generates “background reports” on people, remixing content from a database of public and private records that allegedly incorporates 2B+ records/month. In response to searches on people’s names, Whitepages provides free previews, such as this one included in…
2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 3 (FOSTA/Backpage)
* United States v. Lacey, 2019 WL 5448351 (D. Ariz. Oct. 24, 2019). The Backpage defendants were not able to dismiss the government’s prosecution: “the Government has met its burden of showing the fifty ads in the SI are for…
2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright, E-Commerce, Advertising)
Copyright * In re DMCA Subpoena to Reddit, Inc., 2020 WL 999788 (N.D. Cal. March 2, 2020). Court quashes 512(h) subpoena because the underlying publications were protected by fair use. This is your reminder that 512(h) subpoenas routinely unmask individuals…
Another Terrible Copyright Ruling on IAPs’ Liability for Users’ File-Sharing–Warner v. Charter
This is a copyright infringement lawsuit against Charter, an Internet access provider, for users’ copyright infringements by file-sharing. I comprehensively blogged the magistrate report in this case back in October. In that blog post, I described the magistrate’s report as…
TheDirty Easily Defeats Another Defamation Lawsuit–Laake v. Dirty World
It’s been 6 years since I’ve blogged a case involving TheDirty, and I’m amazed that the site is around–and that people are still suing it. Well, maybe I’m not that surprised people are still suing the site if it’s still…