Actress in Viral Video Can’t Prevent Video From Being Made Into an Advertisement–Roberts v. Bliss
Bliss produced a viral video called “10 Hours Walking in NYC as a Woman” featuring actress Shoshana Roberts. You probably saw this video when it came out; it has been viewed over 40M times. The video shows how random strangers…
Section 230 Helps Snapchat Defeat Personal Injury Claim Due to ‘Speed Filter’–Maynard v. McGee
Snapchat (a/k/a “Snap,” though I can’t say that name without thinking first of this and this) has a “speed filter,” an app that tracks users’ speed. Complaints emerged online that the filter motivated Snapchat users to drive recklessly. The complaint…
Trump Can’t Commit Twibel Because He Routinely ‘Deflects Serious Consideration’–Jacobus v. Trump
A confession: I do not follow @RealDonaldTrump at Twitter because I have a strict policy against following trolls. Life is too short. As we all know, Trump regularly engages in many disfavored tweeting practices: ad hominen attacks; self-promotion; dissemination of…
2H 2016 Quick Links, Part 11 (Social Media, Harassment, E-Discovery & More)
Social Media * US v. Elonis, 2016 WL 6310803 (3d Cir. Oct. 28, 2016). Anthony Elonis’ conviction for criminal threats was once again upheld: Considering the graphic nature of the three messages Elonis posted in October, it is not at…
2H 2016 Quick Links, Part 10 (Marketing, Uber, Airbnb, Taxes & More)
Marketing/Advertising * Danny Sullivan: Facebook’s racial targeting isn’t new, bad or always illegal despite renewed attention * In re Sling Media Slingbox Advertising Litigation (SDNY Aug. 12, 2016). Sling isn’t liable to consumers for adding its own ads to recorded…
Student Disciplined for Posting Threatening Mashup Video to Instagram–AN v. Upper Perkiomen School District
A.N. is a 15 year student at Upper Perkiomen High School (a distant suburb of Philadelphia). He mashed up part of the viral video “Evan,” a video about how we can easily overlook homicidal students, with the song “Pumped Up…
Another Court Rejects DTSA Ex Parte Seizure–Brunswick Rail v Sultanov
You may recall my criticisms of the Defend Trade Secrets Act’s ex parte seizure provision. As far as I know, only two courts have addressed it. Last year, a court declined to grant the seizure without any discussion at all….
Top 10 Internet Law Developments of 2016
Donald Trump’s election as president pretty much dominated our thoughts about 2016 (though Brexit was pretty significant too). So I decided to break up my annual top 10 list into two separate top 5 lists, one election-related, one not. Top…
A Seismic Ruling Revisited: No Common-Law Public Performance Rights in Pre-1972 Sound Recordings in New York–Flo & Eddie v. Sirius
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa On December 20, 2016, the New York Court of Appeals (the highest court in the State of New York) held 4-2 (with one judge recused) that “New York common-law copyright does not recognize a right…
2H 2016 Quick Links, Part 9 (Privacy/Security)
* California AB 691: “Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act.” The key part is the new Probate Code Sec. 873(a): A user may use an online tool to direct the custodian to disclose to a designated recipient or…