A Thumbs-Up Emoji Doesn’t Mean That Dad Disavowed His Child–Bardales v. Lamothe
This is a lawsuit over where a child should live. The mom moved from Honduras to the United States with her minor child. The dad remained in Honduras and initiated legal proceedings to bring the child back to Honduras. These…
Amazon Can’t Force Arbitration of Minors’ Privacy Claims Based on Alexa Recordings–BF v. Amazon
This lawsuit alleges that Alexa improperly stores the voiceprints of minor users. The trial court declines to order arbitration. (It’s the recommendation of a magistrate, so it will go to the district judge for adoption or modification of the order.)…
Rounding Up Two Online Contract Formation Cases
Two more samples of what I’m seeing in the online contract formation caselaw. Reminder: if you’re using some variation of the “wrap” terminology, UR DOIN IT WRONG. Phillips v. Neutron Holdings, Inc., 2019 WL 4861435 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 2, 2019)….
IP/Internet/Antitrust Professor Amicus Brief in 1-800 Contacts v. FTC
Prof. Mark Lemley (Stanford Law) and I filed an amicus brief in 1-800 Contacts v. FTC with the Second Circuit on behalf of 29 professors of intellectual property, Internet law, and antitrust. The abstract: The case involves 1-800 Contacts’ settlement…
And At the End of the Day, the CCPA Remains Very Much the Same (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Tanya Forsheit I am back to provide a post mortem on what many have portrayed – inaccurately – as a long and successful battle by business interests to gut the CCPA. The legislative session is over and,…
Court Enforces Arbitration Clause in “Modified Clickwrap”–Chen v. Sierra Trading Post
This case doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s typical of what I’m seeing. The plaintiffs claim that the retailer Sierra Trading Post (STP) provides misleading comparison prices. STP sought to send the case to arbitration based on its TOU…
Section 230 Applies to Facebook’s Post Removals and Account Suspensions–King v. Facebook
The court summarizes the facts: King alleges Facebook removed multiple posts by him, and temporarily suspended his Facebook access on several occasions in 2018, for posts that Facebook deemed a violation of its terms of service (“ToS”). The crux of…
Consumers Can’t Understand the Online Contracts They “Agree” To. Now What? (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Prof. Samuel I. Becher, Victoria University of Wellington [Eric’s introduction: I’ve repeatedly mentioned the “crisis of online contracts.” We routinely embrace the fiction of online contract formation despite the fact that we know people don’t read the contracts, they wouldn’t…
Facebook Defeats Pro Se Consumer Privacy Suit–Hassan v. Facebook
This is a pro se privacy lawsuit by 4 longtime Facebook users (from 2007-09). It covers a lot of the same topics as the dozens of pending privacy class action lawsuits against Facebook. Not surprisingly, as a pro se suit,…
Lessons from Bumble’s Choice of Law Clause–King v. Bumble
This is a lawsuit against the dating app “Bumble” challenging Bumble’s refund and renewal practices. Plaintiffs allege Bumble violated two California statues: (1) the Dating Service Law, and (2) the Automatic Renewal Law. The first requires dating services to give…