Antitrust Law Doesn’t Prevent Apple From Rejecting Apps From Its App Store–Coronavirus Reporter v. Apple
This case involves two apps that Apple rejected from its app store. The Coronavirus Reporter app “sought to collect ‘bioinformatics data’ from users about COVID-19 symptoms that it would then share with ‘other users and [unidentified] epidemiology researchers.’” Sounds sketchy…
Airbnb Uses Section 230 to Defeat a Personal Injury Claim–Smith v. Airbnb
I was a little surprised by this ruling. The Ninth Circuit’s HomeAway ruling seemingly eliminated Section 230 for any transactions that Airbnb booked, at least in the Ninth Circuit. Yet, this court finds that Section 230 fully protects Airbnb…amazingly without…
A 512(f) Plaintiff Wins at Trial! đź‘€–Alper Automotive v. Day to Day Imports
Background A refresher: in 1998, Congress created a notice-and-takedown scheme for user-submitted items that allegedly infringe copyright. Copyright owners send takedown notices, and service providers either remove the items or lose the safe harbor. Congress recognized how much power it…
Comments on HB 5502, the “INFORM” Act
Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee is marking up the INFORM Act (I think this is the latest version but who knows). The INFORM Act is like a “know-your-customer” (KYC) law for sellers in online marketplaces. It iterates on…
Eighth Circuit Says a Browsewrap Might Form a Contract (and It Wasn’t Even a “Browsewrap”)–Foster v. Walmart
This is the latest dubious Internet Law ruling from the Eighth Circuit. (Other dubious rulings in 2021 include Select Comfort v. Baxter and Campbell v. Reisch). In this ruling, the court says Walmart may have imposed a binding arbitration clause…
Lawsuit Still Goes to Arbitration, Even Though Amazon Has Since Removed Its Arbitration Clause–Nicosia v. Amazon
This is the latest update in Nicosia’s multi-year lawsuit against Amazon. That lawsuit has already resulted in two Second Circuit opinions (and three blog posts). The district court found Nicosia was bound by the arbitration agreement in Amazon’s terms of…
Privacy Lawsuit Based on Website Tracking by Service Provider Trimmed
This is a lawsuit against Nike and its service provider (FullStory), which provides Nike with “session replay” functionality for its website. FullStory’s software allows Nike to capture information regarding website visitors: (1) mouse clicks, (2) keystrokes, (3) payment card information,…
Peloton Can’t Bind All Family Members To Its Arbitration Provision–SS v. Peloton
This case involves the Peloton treadmill (“Tread+”). The treadmill has caused numerous personal injuries, and Peloton has recalled it. In this case, a 3 year old boy suffered personal injuries due to a Tread+ his dad bought. The dad, mom,…
Section 230 Protects Securities Exchange–Saveene v. Remo
This case involves an alleged case of corporate hijacking. The plaintiff alleges that it bought a controlling interest in a corporate entity opaquely named American Diversified Holdings Corp. (“ADHC”) from Remo. Remo then allegedly dissolved the Nevada entity and, without…
TOS Supports Injunction Against Web Scraping–Southwest Airlines v. Kiwi
This is a scraping lawsuit brought by Southwest airlines against Kiwi.com. The court issues an injunction restricting Kiwi from scraping Southwest’s website. Southwest does not allow online travel agencies to sell Southwest flights without the approval of Southwest. Its terms…