If a Lawyer Accepts a TOS While Investigating a Claim, Does It Bind the Client to Arbitration?
Judge Chen (of the Northern District of California) answered this question “no”. The Ninth Circuit affirms in a memorandum opinion. This is a putative class action lawsuit against a people search company for allegedly misusing publicity and personality rights by…
Wouldn’t It Be Great if Internet Services Had To License Technologies Selected by Hollywood? (Comments on the Very Dumb “SMART Copyright Act”)
A new entry in Congress’ parade of terrible Internet bills: the ‘‘Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies Copyright Act of 2022’’ or ‘‘SMART Copyright Act of 2022.’’ The SMART Copyright Act is being pitched as a light update of the…
YouTube Defeats Copyright Lawsuit For Not Removing Users’ Videos Quickly Enough–Business Casual v. YouTube
The plaintiff posted videos to YouTube. It claims that TV-Novosti, which runs the RT Arabic channel, infringed its copyrights. The plaintiff sent takedown notices to YouTube for the allegedly infringing RT Arabic videos. “YouTube removed the First RT Video nine…
Section 230 Survives Yet Another Constitutional Challenge–Huber v. Biden
Twitter suspended Huber pursuant to its COVID misinformation policy. Huber claimed that Twitter took that action in league with the Biden administration. If this setup sounds familiar, that’s because at least a dozen cases riff on this theme. This case…
Database Access After Failed Negotiations Didn’t Violate the CFAA–Carfax v. Accu-Trade
Plaintiff (Carfax) manages information regarding used cars and light trucks. It owns a “QuickVIN” tool that allows users to search vehicle-related information by license plate number, rather than by VIN number. Defendant Accu-trade is a valuation platform and is a…
Instagram Influencer Denied Section 230 For Reposting Reader Submissions–Zuckerbrot v. Gellis
This case involves the high-fiber diet system “F-Factor,” developed by dietitian Tanya Zuckerbrot. Emily Gellis is an Instagram influencer currently with 182k followers, but no training as a dietitian or journalist. Gellis believed that F-Factor harmed consumers, a message she…
Snapchat May Have a Duty Not to Design Dangerous Software–Maynard v. Snap
The Georgia Supreme Court has issued a troubled, and troubling, opinion in Maynard v. Snap. The opinion will delight law professors who love geeking out about the elements of common law negligence claims. It will also inspire plaintiffs to bring…
California Courts Continue to Trim Section 230’s Protection for Amazon’s Marketplace (and Everyone Else)–Lee v. Amazon
The California Appeals Courts have turned against Amazon’s marketplace. In 2020, in Bolger v. Amazon, the court held that Amazon may be strictly liable for marketplace sales it fulfills. Then, last year, in Loomis v. Amazon, the court extended Bolger’s…
Court Mistakenly Thinks Copyright Owners Have a Duty to Police Infringement–Sunny Factory v. Chen
Fuxi, the putative copyright owner, has a registration for an image of printed sage leaves (the left image): The alleged infringer, the Sunny Factory, sells the candles on the right on Amazon. Fuxi’s lawyer, Haoyi Chen of Arch & Lake,…
The CFAA “Gates-Up-or-Down” Metaphor Is Baffling Courts–ACI v. Conservice (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy I have a friend who is a professor of literature. He once joined a book club with other professors of literature dedicated to analyzing James Joyce’s notoriously opaque classic, Finnegan’s Wake. They met weekly and…