Quick Links from the Past Year, Part 8 (Editorial Transparency)
* NY Assembly Bill A7865A. A dangerous new mandatory editorial transparency law to supplement Florida and Texas. Definition of “Hateful conduct” means “the use of a social media network to vilify, humiliate, or incite violence against a group or a…
Ninth Circuit: Elected Officials Violated the First Amendment by Blocking Constituents on Social Media–Garnier v. O’Connor-Ratcliff
This case involves two elected trustees of the Poway Unified School Board (PUSD), Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane. (Poway is a San Diego suburb). They used their Facebook and Twitter pages “to inform constituents about goings-on at the School District…
Trademark Owner Fucks Around With Keyword Ad Case & Finds Out–Las Vegas Skydiving v. Groupon
I’ve often wondered about the conversations that take place between trademark owner and counsel before filing a keyword advertising lawsuit. How extensively do they discuss the risks? There’s plenty to discuss. You can get bad publicity and alienate customers (and…
The Ninth Circuit Reaffirms the Discovery Rule for the Copyright Act’s Statute of Limitations — Starz v. MGM (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa Eleven days ago, the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed that: (1) the discovery rule of accrual applies to the Copyright Act’s three-year statute of limitations; and (2) when the discovery rule applies, the copyright owner is not…
Probationer Restricted from Using “Gang Symbols” on “Social Media”–In re JT
JT, a minor, was convicted of burglary and more. Based on the probation report, the judge inferred his gang membership. His probation conditions included this restriction: not knowingly post, display or transmit on social media or through his cell phone…
Another Account Suspension Case Yeeted–Rangel v. Dorsey
Rangel has the Twitter alias “religiouserpico”: Twitter suspended him after he tweeted “HANG THEM ALL” (did God approve that???). He sued pro se. The court yeets his lawsuit. Claim Against Jack Dorsey. “Out of millions of Twitter accounts, it is…
Omegle Denied Section 230 Dismissal–AM v. Omegle
The court summarizes the facts: A.M. was eleven years old in 2014 when Omegle, a “free online chat room that randomly pairs strangers from around the world for one-on-one chats,” paired her with Ryan Fordyce, a man in his late…
When Will Courts Admit Rap Videos/Lyrics Posted to Social Media as Evidence?–US v. Wiley
The federal government is prosecuting Wiley for drug dealing. The government seeks to introduce as evidence YouTube videos that Wiley posted showing him “holding unknown sums of cash, sitting in or near various luxury vehicles, and performing rap songs that…
A First Look at Copyright Claims Board (CCB) Filings
Today marks the 1-month anniversary of the Copyright Claims Board, so I thought it’s a good opportunity to take a very quick snapshot of the filings we’ve seen so far. My dataset. Number of Filings. The CCB has received 58…
Dropbox’s TOS Amendment Fails (And If This Opinion Stands, Yours Will Too)–Sifuentes v. Dropbox
This is a troubling ruling on TOS amendments. 🚨🚨🚨 It apparently requires clickthroughs to form TOS amendments, regardless of what the TOS specifies as the amendment process. Given how rarely TOS amendments use clickthroughs, this opinion could anticipate the widespread…