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…

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…

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…

Judge Reconsiders SAD Scheme Ruling Against Online Marketplaces--Squishmallows v. Alibaba

Judge Reconsiders SAD Scheme Ruling Against Online Marketplaces–Squishmallows v. Alibaba

You may have heard about Squishmallow’s recent lawsuit against Build-a-Bear over plushy knockoffs. While that’s interesting, I’m focused on Squishmallow’s abuse of the SAD Scheme. I previously blogged about one such case, where Squishmallow sued 90 e-commerce merchants in a…

Ninth Circuit Enforces a "Browsewrap" (That Was Actually a Clickthrough)--Patrick v. Running Warehouse

Ninth Circuit Enforces a “Browsewrap” (That Was Actually a Clickthrough)–Patrick v. Running Warehouse

This is a data breach case. Several e-commerce sites were hit, first by hackers and then by plaintiffs’ lawyers. The sites invoked their TOSes to send the data breach cases to arbitration. The Ninth Circuit agrees. The Ninth Circuit opinion…

Boat Rental Marketplace Defeats Lawsuit Over Offline Boating Accident--In re Chaves

Boat Rental Marketplace Defeats Lawsuit Over Offline Boating Accident–In re Chaves

A rare case analyzing Section 230’s intersection with admiralty law. 🚢 The case involves GetMyBoat, an online marketplace for boat rentals. Listings are free, but GetMyBoat takes a cut of any booked transactions. A young woman, Lindsey Faith Partridge, used…

Online Marketplace Defeats Lawsuit Over Murder--Roland v. Letgo

Online Marketplace Defeats Lawsuit Over Murder–Roland v. Letgo

I previously summarized this case: This is a tragic case involving the marketplace app Letgo. Using an alias, Brown listed a stolen car for sale on the app. The Rolands agreed to meet Brown in person to buy the car….

Two More Cases Compel Arbitration for Dubious Online Contracts (Guest Blog Post)

Two More Cases Compel Arbitration for Dubious Online Contracts (Guest Blog Post)

by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy The intersection of the Federal Arbitration Act and the law of online contracts has become utterly corrosive to our legal system. Many people think this is true. But not enough lawyers say it often enough….

Internal Search Results Aren't Trademark Infringing--PEM v. Peninsula

Internal Search Results Aren’t Trademark Infringing–PEM v. Peninsula

This is a case involving a trademark owner and a competitive keyword advertiser. The trademark owner memorably (and ridiculously) characterized the rival as engaging in “keyword conquesting,” a term I encourage you never to use. The court already sent that…