Internet Access Providers Aren’t Bound by DMCA Unmasking Subpoenas–In re Cox
The DMCA online safe harbor is a notice-and-takedown scheme. Web hosts aren’t liable for copyright-infringing third-party uploads unless and until the copyright owner submits a proper takedown notice to the host, at which point the web host can remain legally…
In 512(f), the “F” Stands for “Futility”–Shaffer v. Kavarnos
This 512(f) case reached a bench trial on the Lenz issue of what it means for a copyright takedown notice sender to consider fair use before sending their 512(c)(3) notices. Most 512(f) plaintiffs never get anywhere close to a trial,…
What’s the Difference Between Copyright Takedown Notices and Spam?–Michael Grecco v. Fandom
The plaintiff in this case is Michael Grecco Productions, a photographer and serial copyright litigant who’s appeared on the blog before (e.g., 1, 2). The defendant is Fandom, which runs the Wikia platform for user-run fan-enthusiast wikis. Grecco alleges that…
Does Anyone Still Care About NFTs? (Yuga Labs, LLC v. Ripps) — Guest Blog Post
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa Four years ago, NFTs were the hottest collectibles on the market and were being touted as the NBT (Next Big Thing). People were paying tens of thousands, or in some cases millions, of dollars (or…
Trump Lost the Trump Tapes Ruling, But Could He Still Prevail? (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Tim McFarlin Is the Trump Tapes suit truly over? It’s been dismissed, but not without leave to move to amend for a third time. Would another amended complaint stand a chance? This question is why I’ve accepted…
Trump’s Lawsuit Over The Trump Tapes is Dismissed (Trump v. Simon & Schuster) — Guest Blog Post
By Guest Blogger Tyler Ochoa [UPDATE: for bonus coverage, see Prof. McFarlin’s supplement to this post.] Last week, a federal judge in New York dismissed a lawsuit filed two-and-a-half years ago by then-former President Donald Trump against journalist Bob Woodward…
Judge Ranjan Cracks Down on SAD Scheme Cases
Judge Nicholas Ranjan of the Western District of Pennsylvania has issued a standing order titled “‘SCHEDULE A’ CASE STANDING ORDER.” I couldn’t find the order on Judge Ranjan’s website or via standard Google searches. Instead, it appeared on the docket…
Reddit Challenges Anthropic’s Scraping to Create Generative AI Models (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy With as much scraping as is happening for AI training and enhancement these days, it’s amazing to me that there aren’t more lawsuits happening over scraping. The legal headlines are more of a trickle than…
A Review of the NYT v. Microsoft AI-Copyright Ruling (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy New York Times Co. v. Microsoft Corp., 2025 WL 1009179 (S.D.N.Y. April 4, 2025), might be the most important case pending on the legality of scraping public data to create training data sets to build…
A Takedown of the Take It Down Act
By guest blogger Prof. Jess Miers (with additional comments from Eric) Two things can be true: Non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII) is a serious and gendered harm. And, the ‘Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and…