When is it Fair Use to Use a Photo to “Illustrate” an Article?
One of the practices that has generated a sizeable number of disputes and rulings is the use of photos to illustrate articles. There is no shortage of articles being generated online, and often those content producers simply canvass the web…
A Seismic Ruling Undone: California’s Sound Recording Copyright Statute Does Not Include Public Performance Rights—Flo & Eddie v. Sirius XM (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that California Civil Code section 980(a)(2), which grants “exclusive ownership” of a sound recording fixed before February 15, 1972, to its “author,” provides…
Cable News Shows Are Defamation-Free Zones–OANN v. Maddow
This lawsuit involves the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. Based on a story from the Daily Beast, Maddow ran a segment claiming that an OANN employee was on the Kremlin’s payroll, concluding that OANN “really literally is paid Russian propaganda.”…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Over Discriminatory Housing Ads–Vargas v. Facebook
This lawsuit alleges that Facebook is liable for Fair Housing Act discrimination purportedly enabled by its self-service advertising tools. The court grants Facebook’s motion to dismiss the Third Amended Complaint. I believe this case is now ready for a Ninth…
Court Nopes Another Lawsuit Over Facebook Suspensions–Orders v. Facebook
Plaintiff Frank Orders “posted a picture of Hunter Biden with two prostitutes on his Facebook page. The black-and-white picture attached to the Complaint shows a male lying naked on a bed with two naked females sitting on top of the…
Section 230 Doesn’t Protect Yearbook Website’s Ads–Knapke v. Classmates
Classmates offers paywalled access to yearbook info. Classmates allows free searches, and the “search results provide a free preview of the services and products with a photo and name of an individual to entice the user to purchase Classmates’ services…
New Primer on the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)
In summer 2018, I wrote a short primer on the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) soon after its passage. That primer proved to be quite popular, and I posted annual updated versions in summer 2019 and 2020. The passage of…
Fifth Circuit Says Keyword Ads Could Contribute to Initial Interest Confusion (UGH)–Adler v. McNeil
Jim Adler runs a personal injury law firm that claims trademarks in JIM ADLER, THE HAMMER, TEXAS HAMMER, and EL MARTILLO TEJANO. The defendants run the Accident Injury Legal Center, which runs a lawyer referral service. It bids on the…
CCPA Definitions Confuse the Judge in a Data Breach Case–In re Blackbaud
Blackbaud “provides data collection and maintenance software solutions for administration, fundraising, marketing, and analytics to social good entities such as non-profit organizations, foundations, educational institutions, faith communities, and healthcare organizations.” In a very unfortunate development, cybercriminals hacked into Blackbaud’s database…
Judge Rakoff: Embedding Social Media Content is a “Display” Under the Copyright Act
Paul Nicklen is a highly acclaimed nature photographer. He posted a video of an emaciated polar bear wandering the Canadian Arctic to his Facebook and Instagram accounts to sound the alarm on climate change. Nicklen “urged his social media followers…