Notifying Twitter of TOS Violations Isn’t Tortious Interference–Illoominate v. CAIR
Wikipedia describes Laura Loomer as a “conspiracy theorist.” Twitter banned her in 2018. I previously blogged on Loomer’s unsuccessful antitrust case against Twitter and other social media platforms. In this lawsuit, she seeks to hold CAIR responsible for her Twitter…
Review Services Aren’t Liable for Removing Business Profiles (and Associated Reviews)–PCS v. HomeAdvisor
This case is an interesting, but equally unmeritorious, variation of the many lawsuits seeking to impose “must-carry” obligations on UGC sites. The defendants are consumer review sites Angie’s List and HomeAdvisor. The lead plaintiff is a home contractor. It had…
More Evidence That Print-on-Demand Vendors May Be Doomed–Greg Young Publishing v. Zazzle
I’ve repeatedly expressed concern for the viability of print-on-demand vendors due to potentially unmanageable IP liability. Unlike other Internet services, print-on-demand vendors do not get the full benefit of 512(c) because of their offline printing and shipping activities. Without 512(c),…
Rehearing Briefs in Enigma Software v. Malwarebytes
In September, in Enigma v. Malwarebytes, the Ninth Circuit issued a troubling Section 230(c)(2)(B) ruling that allowed plaintiffs’ allegations of anti-competitive animus to override the safe harbor for anti-threat software vendors. It was a 2-1 ruling on a key topic,…
More Evidence That IP Law Protects Individual Emoji Depictions–Nirvana v. Marc Jacobs
This case involves the well-known “Nirvana Happy Face” drawn by Kurt Cobain in 1991 and registered in 1993. Marc Jacobs launched a “Bootleg Redux Grunge” clothing line (really??? who buys this shit?) that included an homage to the Nirvana Happy…
Section 230 Helps Salesforce Defeat Sex Trafficking Lawsuit–Doe v. Salesforce
Salesforce provided SaaS services to Backpage. On that basis, the plaintiffs sought to hold Salesforce liable for any Backpage-caused sex trafficking victimization. This represents an attempt (possibly unprecedented) to impose tertiary liability for sex trafficking. The advertisers, such as pimps,…
Strike 3’s Copyright Litigation Campaign Completely Strikes Out
Another judge denies an unmasking subpoena to Strike 3, even though the judge has previously issued subpoenas to Strike 3, and even though it may mean that Strike 3’s infringement case will fail and Strike 3 will be left without…
State Court Rejects Prager University’s Lawsuit Against YouTube
Prager University publishes videos on YouTube. YouTube demonetized some of its videos and placed some in “restricted mode,” meaning that users of YouTube’s restricted mode functionality won’t see them. Prager claimed that YouTube took these steps due to anti-conservative bias,…