What Is It With “Kennedy” Politicians Bringing Weak Lawsuits Against Facebook?–Baldwin-Kennedy v. Meta
Ronda Baldwin-Kennedy, a lawyer, ran for the US Senate in Nevada as a Republican. She got less than 2,000 votes in the June 2024 primary. Now, she’s suing Meta for…
Section 230 Defeats Underage User’s Lawsuit Against Grindr–Doll v. Pelphrey
This is another lawsuit against Grindr claiming that Grindr made it too easy for underage users to sign up and meet other users for sex. Thus, the plaintiff alleges “Grindr…
A 27-Month Check-In on the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Tyler Ochoa This month, the Copyright Claims Board released its quarterly report of “Key Statistics,” covering the period from June 2022 (when it began operation) through September…
Ninth Circuit Tells Trademark Owners to Stop Suing Over Competitive Keyword Ads–Lerner & Rowe v. Brown Engstrand
This is a major ruling validating the legitimacy of competitive keyword advertising, which occurs when an advertiser purchases and displays ads triggered in response to third-party trademarks. Recently, the “Second…
The VPPA May Be a Dinosaur Statute, But It’s Very Much Alive in the Second Circuit–Salazar v. NBA
NBA.com passed along video viewing information to Facebook using the Facebook Pixel, including “(1) the title of the NBA.com video a user watched, (2) that video’s URL, and (3) the…
Expert Witness Used Generative AI to Prepare His Report. It Didn’t Go Well–In re Weber
This case involves real property on Cat Island in the Bahamas. After the death of Michael S. Weber, the property passed into his trust. Susan, his sister, is the trustee,…
Court Revives Indiana AG’s False Advertising Case Against TikTok–State v. TikTok
This is one of the many AG enforcement actions against social media for [reasons]. In this particular claim, the Indiana AG alleges that TikTok coaxed users to install its app…
Internet Access Providers Face Contributory Copyright Liability for Subscribers’ Infringements–UMG v. Grande
This is another lawsuit against an Internet access provider (IAP) for user-committed copyright infringement via P2P file sharing. For more background on this issue, see this rrcap and the links…
Second Circuit Tells Trademark Owners to Stop Suing Over Competitive Keyword Advertising–1-800 Contacts v. Warby Parker
Fifteen years ago, courts generally avoided categorical pronouncements about the legitimacy of competitive keyword advertising. That produced a string of waffly or irresolute rulings, such as the appellate rulings in…
Court Enjoins California’s Anti-“Political Deepfakes” Law (AB 2839) Because It’s Unconstitutional Censorship–Kohls v. Bonta
In September, California enacted AB 2839. It seeks to remove certain types of politically themed “materially deceptive content” (including “deepfakes” 🙄) during the election season, except for some labeled parodies…