Hello, You’ve Been Referred Here Because You’re Wrong About Web Scraping Laws (Guest Blog Post, Part 2 of 2)
by Kieran McCarthy [Eric’s note: this is the second of a two-part series on the denouement of the hiQ v. LnkedIn case, which ended this week with a total loss for hiQ. The prior part explained the most recent ruling,…
Prager’s Lawsuit Over Biased Content Moderation Decisively Fails Again (This Time, in State Court)–Prager v. YouTube
Adam Kovacevich has defined the “Prager Effect” as “suing Big Tech to make your MAGA censorship allegation, resulting in Courts significantly strengthening platforms’ legal rights to moderate.” Prager, which makes misleading videos that appear designed to radicalize kids to the…
As Everyone Expected Years Ago, hiQ’s CFAA Wins Don’t Mean It Can Freely Scrape–hiQ v. LinkedIn (Guest Blog Post, Part 1 of 2)
by Kieran McCarthy [Eric’s note: this is the first of a two-part series on the denouement of the hiQ v. LinkedIn case. This part explains the most recent ruling, a devastating but not unexpected loss for hiQ. The next part…
Another Rough Copyright Ruling for Internet Access Providers–Bodyguard v. RCN
This is another lawsuit against IAPs for subscribers’ BitTorrent activity. As I wrote previously: lawsuits against IAPs are problematic for many reasons, including the failure of 512(a), the danger of assuming that notices of claimed infringements (NOCIs) actually reflect infringing…
Review of the “Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?” Netflix Documentary
In the mid-1990s, at the height of the Cola Wars, Pepsi ran an ad to introduce its “Pepsi Stuff” loyalty program, including a featured prize of a Harrier Jet for 7M points–a ridiculously high number that was supposed to signal…
My Testimony to the Colombian Constitutional Court Regarding Online Account Terminations and Content Removals
Today, I testified remotely before the Colombian Constitutional Court in the case of Esperanza Gómez Silva c. Meta Platforms, Inc. y Facebook Colombia S.A.S. Expediente T-8.764.298. In a procedure I don’t understand, the court organized a public hearing to discuss…
Twitter Wins Another Account Termination Case–Yuksel v. Twitter
This is another account termination/suspension case, which turns out like all of the others. Yuksel was a longtime Twitter user with 142k followers. He claims that Twitter suspended his account at the behest of the Turkish government. The court dismisses…
Does the CFAA Help Airlines Control Their Distribution Channels?–RyanAir v. Booking (Guest Blog Post)
by Kieran McCarthy When the Supreme Court decided Van Buren v. United States last summer, many Computer Fraud and Abuse Act experts felt that the decision avoided the worst interpretations of the CFAA, while consciously leaving most of its practical…
A Million-Dollar Thumbs-Up Emoji?–Lightstone v. Zinntex
This is a pandemic case. The buyer ordered $2.1M of personal protective equipment (PPE) from the seller in April 2020 and wired the money. The seller subsequently didn’t deliver, and the buyer cancelled the order. That left the issue of…
First Amendment Protects Videogame’s Depiction of Tractor’s Trade Dress–Saber v. Oovee
This case involves the Polish tractor manufacturer Kirovets’ K-700 tractor: Saber makes the videogame MudRunner. It exclusively licensed the right to depict the K-700 in its videogames, including the right to enforce the exclusive license in court. Oovee make the…