2023 Quick Links: Leftovers
Consumer Reviews * Route App, Inc. v. Heuberger, 2023 WL 5334192 (D. Utah Aug. 18, 2023): Heuberger argues that Route’s Breach of Contract claim fails because the non-disparagement provision in…
Game On! Bright Data Scores Major Victory in Web-Scraping Dispute with Meta (Guest Blog Post)
…interesting (again). * * * Eric’s comments: This ruling is definitely going to be appealed, so I’m not ready yet to declare this ruling as the new trespass-to-chattels baseline. I…
Courts Still Have No Clue How to Determine Who Owns Social Media Accounts–JLM v. Gutman
This is the latest entry in a long-running legal battle between Hayley Paige Gutman, a bridalwear designer, and JLM Couture, her one-time employer. Gutman created a Pinterest account in 2011…
Two More Cases Compel Arbitration for Dubious Online Contracts (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy The intersection of the Federal Arbitration Act and the law of online contracts has become utterly corrosive to our legal system. Many people think this…
2023 Emoji Law Year-in-Review
…case. * I did a Q&A on emoji law. * The Free Law Project now allows caselaw searches by Unicode emoji!!! They even call it the “Eric Goldman feature.” 😍😍😍…
N.D. Cal. Judge Pushes Back on Copyright SAD Scheme Cases–Viral DRM v. YouTube Schedule A Defendants
…DRM’s works from YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter; (2) removing Viral DRM’s copyright management information from Plaintiff’s videos; and (3) uploading infringing works to YouTube These kinds of generic arguments…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Claiming It “Discriminated” Against Muslim & Palestinian Content–Elansari v. Facebook
I previously described this pro se lawsuit: “Elansari is Muslim. In this lawsuit, he claims that Facebook blocks pro-Palestinian publishers and favors pro-Israeli publishers. Thus, he argues, Jewish readers are…
2023 Internet Law Year-in-Review
My roundup of the top Internet Law developments of 2023: 10) California court bans targeted advertising (?). Regulators have sought to suppress online targeted advertising for years, with only minimal…
Cloned-and-Revised Legal Documents Aren’t Copyrightable–UIRC v. William Blair
This case revisits the venerable topic of if, and when, cloning-and-revising a legal document can be copyright infringement. The plaintiff gets an expensive lesson in the law of derivative works….
2023 Quick Links: Social Media
Facebook * Meta Platforms, Inc. v. District of Columbia, 2023 WL 5964764 (D.C. Ct. App. Sept. 14, 2023). This is the latest ruling in an investigation by DC Attorney General…