31 Bogus Passages from Florida’s Defense of Its Censorship Law–NetChoice v. Moody
Florida filed its opposition brief to the NetChoice/CCIA request to preliminarily enjoin SB 7072, the Florida censorship law. This post critiques some of the brief’s worst parts. As I’ve said before, writing blog posts like this isn’t fun for me….
School Can’t Discipline Student For Off-Campus Snapchat Messages–Mahanoy School District v. BL
A high school cheerleader, Brandi Levy (referred to as B.L. in the opinion), was disappointed about being placed on the JV squad instead of the varsity squad, as well as developments regarding her softball team. From the local convenience store,…
State Government’s Alleged Copyright Infringement Wasn’t a “Taking”–Jim Olive v. University of Houston (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Tyler Ochoa Last week, the Texas Supreme Court held that “the violation of a copyright, without more, is not a taking of the copyright,” and affirmed the dismissal of Olive’s inverse condemnation claim. UH allegedly downloaded Olive’s…
Ohio Bans Competitive Keyword Advertising by Lawyers
No one: Absolutely no one: Ohio Board of Professional Conduct (in the third decade of the 21st century….): * * * I guess we’re doing this again. It’s 2021, long past the time consumers have come to understand competitive keyword…
Social Media Providers Aren’t Liable for Domestic Mass-Shooting–Retana v. Twitter
This is one of the dozen-plus lawsuits filed against social media providers for allegedly facilitating terrorist attacks. This particular lawsuit involved a mass-shooting of Dallas police officers in 2016. Despite the underlying tragedies, the lawsuits against social media providers have…
Domain Name Registrar Isn’t Liable for Hijacked Domain Name–Rigsby v. GoDaddy
Rigsby registered the scottrigsbyfoundation.org domain name via GoDaddy. He claims GoDaddy didn’t give him proper notice of renewal, so the domain name lapsed. It was then registered by an interloper who displays gambling-related material. Rigsby asked GoDaddy to give him…
Amicus Briefs Against Florida’s Censorship Law (SB 7072)
Five amicus briefs were filed in support of the NetChoice/CCIA motion for a preliminary injunction against the Florida censorship law. Highlights: Internet Association amicus brief: The February 1, 2021 coup in Myanmar exemplifies the need for quick and nimble responses…
Want to Engage in Anti-Competitive Trademark Bullying? Second Circuit Says: Great, Have a Nice Day!–1-800 Contacts v. FTC
Starting in the mid-2000s, 1-800 Contacts sought to control how its competitors bought search engine advertising triggered by its (so-called) trademarks, a process I call competitive keyword advertising. To do this, 1-800 Contacts typically sued its competitors and then quickly…
Did Facebook Commit Tortious Interference Against BrandTotal?–Facebook v. BrandTotal
BrandTotal installs (with the users’ consent) researchware that collects data from Facebook, including automated pings for data that the user has the right to view but never requested to browse. BrandTotal bypasses Facebook’s API so it can obtain information not…
More Perspectives About Van Buren v. US (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy [Eric’s comment: this is a supplement to my more comprehensive post on Van Buren v. US] This was a critically important case with far-reaching policy implications across dozens of industries. 23 amici curiae were filed….