512(f) Claim Over Counternotice Survives Motion to Dismiss–Handshoe v. Perret
[Oops, this post got stuck in my draft folder. Better late than never.] Whew, this case will never end. I’ve blogged it a few times over the years, including a ruling not that long ago. It’s showing up again on…
Court Blasts “Copyright Troll” for Treating Courts “as an ATM”–Strike 3 v. Doe
Strike 3 produces pornography. The court calls it a “copyright troll.” It has filed nearly 2,000 copyright infringement cases in the past 13 months. With that many cases, it’s bound to run into a skeptical judge, and whoa, did Judge…
Another Suspended Twitter User Loses in Court–Kimbrell v. Twitter
Just last month, I blogged about a suspended Twitter user who lost in court. This pro se lawsuit also fails. It makes me wonder: how many other suspended Twitter users have pending cases in court? This lawsuit is also one…
Another YouTube Remove-and-Relocate Case Fails–Kinney v. YouTube
This is one of numerous cases relating to YouTube’s crackdowns on videos allegedly promoted by bots. YouTube removed the videos from the promoted URLs and relocated them to new URLs, thus stripping the initial videos of the benefits of the…
FOSTA’s Political Curse
As you know, FOSTA was terrible policy. Since its passage, the law has been devastating to the communities of both sex trafficking victims and commercial sex workers. Law enforcement officers have stopped invested as much energy into sex trafficking operations…
Reminder: Cutting-and-Pasting Photos from the Internet Is Hazardous to Your Legal Health–Grecco v. Valuewalk
This is a mostly straightforward case of cutting-and-pasting a photo from the Internet. These cases don’t normally produce detailed federal court rulings because the defendant usually doesn’t have great defenses and prefers to settle early. This defendant decided to fight…
Is the DTSA Ex Parte Seizure Provision Constitutional?
The Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) has been law for 2 1/2 years. At this point, it’s pretty clear the DTSA ex parte seizure provision never belonged in the statute. Courts have ordered only a few ex parte seizures, and…
Section 230 Doesn’t Support Habeus Petition by ‘Revenge’ Pornographer–Bollaert v. Gore
As you may recall, Kevin Bollaert ran UGotPosted, which published third-party submitted nonconsensual pornography, and ChangeMyReputation.com, which offered depicted individuals a “pay-to-remove” option. Bollaert appeared multiple times in my inventory of nonconsensual pornography enforcement actions. Bollaert’s conduct was disgusting, and…
Angie’s List Defeats Lawsuit Over Alleged “Pay-to-Play” Rankings–Strauss v. Angie’s List
Strauss spent over $200,000 on Angie’s List advertising over about a decade. After he stopped advertising, he claimed Angie’s List treated him poorly, including deindexing him from its search, then degrading his positioning in search results, and other malfeasance. All…
Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against Airbnb Has the Potential to Change Online Marketplaces–Harrington v. Airbnb
Airbnb has admitted that some of its vendors have engaged in racial discrimination. It really had no choice in this admission, after both empirical and anecdotal evidence demonstrated it. Plaintiffs sued Airbnb for violating Oregon’s discrimination law. The magistrate judge…