Frequency of Courts’ References to Emojis and Emoticons Over Time
[This is another excerpt from my Emojis and the Law paper.] In preparing the article, I gathered a dataset of all cases I could find in Westlaw and Lexis containing the word “emoticon” or “emoji.” This dataset is subject to…
Ban on Sex Offenders Using Social Media Violates First Amendment–Packingham v. North Carolina
Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down a North Carolina law that banned registered sex offenders from using social media sites. It’s a rare treat to get a Supreme Court opinion delving into Internet content regulations, and as a bonus, this…
Trademark Registrations for Emojis
[This is another excerpt from my Emojis and the Law paper.] The Trademark Office has registered emoji trademarks. On January 20, 2017, I conducted a search in the TESS database for “emoji” and identified 385 records. At that time, most…
“Offensive, Rude, Annoying, Mean-Spirited & Ill-Advised” Blog Posts Aren’t Defamatory–Milazzo v. Connolly
This is another case study of the overly litigious world of homeowners’ associations. For example, a few months ago, I blogged about another lawsuit involving a condo association, its no-pet policy, and a string of vitriolic blog posts over residents…
Facebook Isn’t Liable for Fake User Account–Caraccioli v. Facebook
I blogged about this case last year. (This case is also indexed in our compendium of nonconsensual pornography cases). In my prior post, I described the facts: Franco Caraccioli is a third-year law student in San Diego. For reasons not…
Recapping the “Can Technology Rescue Democracy” Essay Series at The Atlantic
As I mentioned before, I helped organize a series of essays at The Atlantic addressing the question: “Is technology hurting our democracy, and can it help save it?” The series is now complete, so I thought it was worth revisiting…
Copyright Registrations for Emoticons and Emojis
[This is the first of a series of excerpts from my Emojis and the Law paper. Note that I’ve created a new blog category for “Emojis”–the first new category in years!] In my Emojis and the Law paper, I analyzed…
Your Movements Shall Be Traced: The New EU Regulation on Cross-Border Portability (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble On May 18, 2017, the European Parliament adopted with amendments the EU Cross-Border Portability Regulation (Regulation (EU) of the European Parliament and of the Council on cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market)….
How a Chipmunk Emoji Cost an Israeli Texter $2,200
by Gabriella Ziccarelli and Eric Goldman [Eric’s introduction: Gabriella is a star SCU Law alum and an associate at Blank Rome in DC. She is also a former Internet Law student of mine. As a teacher, it’s gratifying to have a former student…
Facebook Defeats Lawsuit Over Material Support for Terrorists–Cohen v. Facebook
We’ve seen a cluster of lawsuits against social media sites based on their alleged provision of material support to terrorists. The first substantive ruling–in Fields v. Twitter, now on appeal to the Ninth Circuit–was a decisive plaintiff loss, casting a…