Trump’s Must-Carry Lawsuit Against Twitter Moved to Twitter’s Home Court–Trump v. Twitter
As you recall, in July, Trump sued Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for “deplatforming” him. As expected (see image to the right), YouTube successfully transferred its case to the Northern District of California. Now Twitter has done the same. (A reminder…
Peloton Can’t Bind All Family Members To Its Arbitration Provision–SS v. Peloton
This case involves the Peloton treadmill (“Tread+”). The treadmill has caused numerous personal injuries, and Peloton has recalled it. In this case, a 3 year old boy suffered personal injuries due to a Tread+ his dad bought. The dad, mom,…
If “Trespass to Chattels” Isn’t Limited to “Chattels,” Anarchy Ensues–Best Carpet Values v. Google
Trigger warning: this is a terrible opinion. Let’s hope the judge corrects his errors or that the appeals court does it for him. * * * This opinion addresses a venerable issue in Internet Law: can a website control how…
TOS Supports Injunction Against Web Scraping–Southwest Airlines v. Kiwi
This is a scraping lawsuit brought by Southwest airlines against Kiwi.com. The court issues an injunction restricting Kiwi from scraping Southwest’s website. Southwest does not allow online travel agencies to sell Southwest flights without the approval of Southwest. Its terms…
Trump Has to Litigate His Must-Carry Lawsuit in YouTube’s Home Court–Trump v. YouTube
In July, Trump et al sued Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube in Florida for terminating his accounts. At the time, I laid out a 6-step prediction for how things would go: We’ve reached Step 2 in the YouTube case. Based on…
When is it Fair Use to Use a Photo to “Illustrate” an Article?
One of the practices that has generated a sizeable number of disputes and rulings is the use of photos to illustrate articles. There is no shortage of articles being generated online, and often those content producers simply canvass the web…
Judge Rakoff: Embedding Social Media Content is a “Display” Under the Copyright Act
Paul Nicklen is a highly acclaimed nature photographer. He posted a video of an emaciated polar bear wandering the Canadian Arctic to his Facebook and Instagram accounts to sound the alarm on climate change. Nicklen “urged his social media followers…
Instacart’s Privacy Policy Protects Stripe from Consumer Privacy Claims–Silver v. Stripe
Instacart uses Stripe as a payment processor. Instacart purports to bind consumers to its privacy policy via this screen: (Sorry for the poor image resolution. This is what the court’s opinion had. The applicable disclosures are in the bottom right…
Second Circuit Rejects an Account Termination Lawsuit…Again (Phew!)–Domen v. Vimeo
Domen posted videos advocating for sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE). Vimeo terminated his account. Domen sued Vimeo for the termination, alleging that it discriminated against him. The district court dismissed Domen’s complaint. The Second Circuit affirmed, in a precedent-setting opinion…
DC Circuit Upholds Airbnb’s TOS–Selden v. Airbnb
Selden sued Airbnb for racial discrimination. Airbnb invoked its arbitration clause. Five years ago, the district court sent the case to arbitration. Selden lost the arbitration because a room in an owner-occupied, single-family residence isn’t a public accommodation (similar to…