The Ninth Circuit’s Broad (and Wrong) Standards for Conversion–Taylor v. Google (Guest Blog Post)

by Kieran McCarthy Recently, there has been a revival of anemic trespass to chattels claims in California. And so perhaps we should not be surprised that California courts have opened the door to a resurgence in anemic digital conversion claims,…

Tubi's TOS Formation Fails--Campos v. Tubi

Tubi’s TOS Formation Fails–Campos v. Tubi

This is a Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) case 🙄 against the video streaming platform Tubi. Tubi sought to send the case to arbitration per its TOS. The court says no. The account signup page on mobile devices looked like…

Twitter Narrows, But Doesn’t Completely Avoid, a Dangerous Copyright Lawsuit–Concord Music v. X

Music publishers sued Twitter for users’ alleged copyright infringement. The court says that three aspects of the contributory copyright infringement claim survive Twitter’s motion to dismiss. Direct Copyright Infringement. The publishers argued that Twitter “transmitted” their works. The court says…

Fifth Circuit Once Again Disregards Supreme Court Precedent and Mangles Section 230--Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton

Fifth Circuit Once Again Disregards Supreme Court Precedent and Mangles Section 230–Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton

Texas passed a law (HB 1181) requiring pornographic websites to age-authenticate all users and then prevent minors from accessing online porn. If this sounds familiar, it’s because Congress passed functionally identical laws twice: the CDA in 1996 and the COPA…

"Ringless Voicemail" Vendor Wins Section 230 Defense Against FTC--US v. Stratics Networks

“Ringless Voicemail” Vendor Wins Section 230 Defense Against FTC–US v. Stratics Networks

[This is one of those opinions that is a slog to blog because the court’s statutory analysis made my head hurt. If this opinion confuses you, welcome to the club. FWIW, “Slog to Blog” would make a good band name.]…

The SAD Scheme as an Institutional Failure

The SAD Scheme as an Institutional Failure

[These are my rough-draft talk notes from a recent workshop of trademark law professors.] The SAD Scheme involves a trademark owner suing dozens/hundreds of defendants using a sealed complaint, getting an ex parte TRO, and then having the online marketplaces…

Section 230 Doesn't Apply to Sending Non-Consensual Pornography by Postal Mail--Doe v. Spencer

Section 230 Doesn’t Apply to Sending Non-Consensual Pornography by Postal Mail–Doe v. Spencer

Spencer’s wife had an extra-marital affair with Doe. Doe sent “photographs and screen shots of sexually explicit images” to the wife. Spencer, the husband, came into possession of these materials via unspecified means. He assembled various collages of the images…

Print-on-Demand Service Defeats Fish Illustrator's Copyright Claim--Tomelleri v. Sunfrog

Print-on-Demand Service Defeats Fish Illustrator’s Copyright Claim–Tomelleri v. Sunfrog

Tomelleri (who has appeared on this blog before) illustrates fishes (see court exhibit on the right). He sued a print-on-demand service (Sunfrog) over alleged IP violations of his illustrations. If that rings a bell, it’s because just yesterday I blogged…

Print-on-Demand Services Face More Legal Woes–Canvasfish v. Pixels

In the ongoing legal battles over print-on-demand services, RedBubble and (more recently) Printify have sometimes achieved favorable results by disaggregating all of the functions and acting solely as a marketing agent for the disaggregated vendors. These defense-favorable outcomes may work…

“Assuming Good Faith Online” Essay Published

I’m pleased to announce the publication of my essay, “Assuming Good Faith Online,” in the Journal of Online Trust and Safety. The published version. This essay has had a more convoluted publication history than most. I initially drafted it in…