2H 2016 Quick Links, Part 1 (Special Election Edition)
I’ve already cast my ballot, and I hope you will vote too. I don’t normally wade into election politics but there have been several election issues that touch on topics of interest to this blog. So, for the first time,…
Deleting Comments to County Facebook Page May Violate First Amendment–Davison v. Loudoun County
This is a case study on the problems that can arise when public records requirements meet modern forms of communications. On July 15, 2016, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors held a public meeting. One of the supervisors elected to…
Spokeo Wipes Out FCRA Lawsuit Over “Improper” Mandatory Disclosures–Nokchan v. Lyft
As you recall, both the plaintiffs’ bar and defense bar declared that the Supreme Court’s Spokeo v. Robins ruling was a win for their side. Optimists might interpret that as a sign the Supreme Court found a magical win-win solution;…
Anti-Robocall Statute Violates First Amendment–Gresham v. Rutledge
Arkansas has a statute that prohibits: use a telephone for the purpose of offering any goods or services for sale, or for conveying information regarding any goods or services for the purpose of soliciting the sale or purchase of the…
Talk on Trends in Online Trademark and Marketing Law
In April, I gave a talk in Israel at an inaugural event to celebrate the life and work of Avron Gabrieli, one of Israel’s most venerable and well-known IP lawyers who died in 2015. Initially, the talk topic was styled…
Repeat Plaintiff Can’t Sue Search Engines Because Employers Won’t Hire Him–Despot v. Baltimore Life Insurance
The plaintiff, David Despot, has “filed many cases in various courts over the years.” Apparently there is some disagreement about the exact number: “Casetext indicates that its own website reveals 10 lawsuits, BLIC refers specifically to 5, Google states that…
An Assessment of the Anthem Data Breach Litigation Rulings (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger David Silverman [Eric’s intro: this blog post helps distill Judge Koh’s two rulings, In re Anthem Inc. Data Breach Litig., No. 15-MD-02617 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 16, 2016) (“Anthem I”) and In re Anthem Inc. Data Breach Litig., No. 15-MD-02617 (N.D….
Second Circuit’s Decision in Microsoft v. U.S. (Data Stored in Ireland): Good News for Internet Users? (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble With the July 14, 2016, decision in Microsoft v. United States (“Microsoft”) by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the question arises – as it usually does in cases involving technology in general…
A Tale of Two Spokeos
The Supreme Court provided important guidance about Article III standing, especially what constitutes an injury sufficient to satisfy Article III, in the Spokeo v. Robins ruling from May 2016. At the time, it was unclear whether the ruling was more…
Twitter May Be Liable for Sending Texts to Recycled Cellphone Numbers–Nunes v. Twitter
This is a TCPA lawsuit against Twitter. The claims are based on text messages sent to phone numbers where the subscriber was a Twitter user and signed up to receive text updates but later the phone number got recycled to…