11th Circuit Rejects Keyword Advertising Liability–Deltona v. NOCO
This case involves two competitors in the vehicle-battery charger industry. The plaintiff calls its offering “Battery Tender” (based on the analogy of a ship’s tender) and claims trademark rights in the term. Believing that the term is generic, NOCO began…
Appeals Court Accepts That the “Water” Emoji Can Be Slang for Methamphetamine–U.S. v. Reed
This is a federal prosecution against alleged drug dealers. There is substantial evidence beyond the emojis suggesting that Swanagan is a dealer. Prior blog post. The appeals court didn’t quote Swanagan’s inculpatory message in full. Here it is from the…
Emoji Evidence Errors Don’t Undo a Murder Conviction–People v. Harmon
Delarosa was convicted of murder. (Some background on the case). On appeal, he argues the court should have excluded a Facebook message that indicated he owned a gun a few weeks before the shooting. The Facebook message included some emojis:…
Thumbs-Up Emoji Formed Binding Sales Contract in Canada–Achter v. South West Terminal
This is the instant-classic lawsuit involving a Saskatchewan farmer who text-messaged a “thumbs-up” emoji in response to an offer to buy his flax. The lower court found that the seller’s thumbs-up emoji constituted assent to the buyer’s offer and awarded…
Eggplant Emoji 🍆 Means What You Think It Means–State v. Farley
A jury convicted Farley of sexual abuse of a minor. On appeal, the court addresses this online conversation between Farley and the victim: Farley: “10:30 good boy 11 bad boy” Victim: “Me bad boy” Farley: “11 tomorrow night bud” Victim:…
2023 Emoji Law Year-in-Review
I continue to maintain my census of U.S. cases referencing emojis or emoticons. In 2023, I logged 225 such cases (this number will grow a bit due to lags with the electronic databases). The case count continues to grow exponentially….
Judge Rejects a Motion With the “Exploding Head” Emoji–DePietro v. Levitt
This is a class-action employment lawsuit. The parties settled and sought judicial approval of the settlement terms and associated attorneys’ fees. They didn’t get the approval. The judge balks at several terms of the settlement, including the attorneys’ fee request….
In a SAD Scheme Case, Court Rejects Injunction Over “Emoji” Trademark
This is a SAD Scheme case from one of my least-favorite rightsowners, Emojico. (I wrote an expert declaration about them in 2021). Emojico has trademark registrations in the word “emoji” for a ridiculously broad range of product categories–from (I’m not…
Q&A About Emoji Law
I did another interview on emoji law that I thought was worth sharing here. * * * 1. Please tell me about your childhood and young adulthood. Did you play games (ie, Atari, Nintendo) that required you to “read” icons…
A Single Emoji Could Constitute Securities Fraud–In re Bed Bath & Beyond
This case involves Ryan Cohen, who made a fortune running Chewy.com and then switched his interests to meme stocks. He bought a 9% interest in the failing retailer Bed Bath and Beyond, hyped the stock, and then liquidated his position,…