TripAdvisor Doesn’t Get Early Section 230 Dismissal–Putt v. TripAdvisor
Putt booked a tour through TripAdvisor’s subsidiary, Viator. On the tour, she suffered personal injuries. Putt sued TripAdvisor for negligence, misrepresentation, and more. Section 230. TripAdvisor invoked Section 230. The court says it’s too early to tell if TripAdvisor qualifies…
My California Young Lawyers Association Interview About Emojis
[In August, I did an interview with Skyler Gray that ran in the California Young Lawyers Association newsletter.] How did an intersection of emojis and the law begin? Were there legal issues concerning the original punctuation emojis, such as “:)”…
If You Want an Enforceable Online Contract, You Better Keep a Good Chain of Evidence–Snow v. Eventbrite
Eventbrite wanted to send a lawsuit to arbitration, so it invoked the arbitration clause in its TOS. But did the plaintiffs assent to Eventbrite’s TOS? The court says no. What went wrong? Eventbrite has three online venues: its desktop website,…
Another Roundup of Online Contract Formation Cases
Time for another roundup of online contract formation cases. HomeAdvisor, Inc. v. Waddell, 2020 WL 2988565 (Tex. Ct. App. June 4, 2020) The court finds this a valid contract formation process: The court explains: the submittal page was uncluttered, with…
Judge Isn’t Impressed By Lawyer’s Purported Unfamiliarity With LinkedIn–Reyes v. Tanaka
Juror #1 was empaneled on a trial. Myles Breiner is one of the plaintiff’s lawyers. On the 6th day of trial, Breiner sent Juror #1 an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. Out-of-court interactions between jurors and the litigating lawyers is…
Defendants Keep Getting Arbitration Despite the Anarchy in Online Contract Formation Doctrine
Online contract formation law has gotten strange. The proliferation of “wrap” variations has tied up judges in knots. Despite the increasingly baroque and incoherent legal doctrines, the bottom line has largely remained the same: most online contracts are properly formed…
Strike 3’s Copyright Litigation Campaign Completely Strikes Out
Another judge denies an unmasking subpoena to Strike 3, even though the judge has previously issued subpoenas to Strike 3, and even though it may mean that Strike 3’s infringement case will fail and Strike 3 will be left without…
Legal Research Services Are Struggling With Emojis and Emoticons
Jennifer L. Behrens, a law librarian at Duke Law School, has posted an article: “Unknown Symbols”: Online Legal Research in the Age of Emoji.” She conducted numerous search queries to see how the major legal research services handled case opinions…
Two Examples of How Courts Interpret Emojis
As I’ve noted before, we haven’t gotten a U.S. court opinion thoroughly interpreting emojis. The most incisive emoji law opinion to date remains the Israeli small claims court opinion that includes the baffling chipmunk emoji. Nevertheless, some court opinions do…
Court Blasts “Copyright Troll” for Treating Courts “as an ATM”–Strike 3 v. Doe
Strike 3 produces pornography. The court calls it a “copyright troll.” It has filed nearly 2,000 copyright infringement cases in the past 13 months. With that many cases, it’s bound to run into a skeptical judge, and whoa, did Judge…