Judge Barker (E.D. Tex.) Disassembles Two SAD Scheme Cases
Judge J. Campbell Barker (E.D. Tex.) issued two rulings involving SAD Scheme patent cases last week. The cases are: Shangyou Jiayi Lighting Product Co., Ltd. v. Schedule A Defendants, 2026 WL 2948520 (E.D. Tex. Sept. 30, 2026) and Haiying Liu …
Court Wipes Out SAD Scheme Default Judgment Due to Improper Email Service–Deckers v. Litfun
Deckers owns the UGG brand. It is a repeat SAD Scheme plaintiff. In this case, it sued 30 defendants for infringement, got permission to serve the lawsuit by email, and got default judgments against 18 defendants. One of those defendants,…
Uber Guests Aren’t Bound By Uber’s TOS–Walker v. Uber
A section from my Internet Law casebook’s chapter on online contracts is titled: “Uber’s TOS Formation Madness. An entire chapter could be dedicated solely to Uber’s TOS dramas!” Here’s another dramatic entry in the annals of Uber’s TOS history. The…
SAD Scheme Plaintiff Must Pay $40k to Defendant–Guangzhou Tinpod v. Schedule A Defendants
The plaintiff is Guangzhou Tinpod Electronic Technology Co. The plaintiff initially sued under the XYZ pseudonym and hasn’t updated the case caption, even though its identity is no longer sealed. I presume the plaintiff and many of the 44 defendants…
Courts Still Can’t Let Go of the Possibility that Individual Prices are Copyrightable–Rapaport v. Nivoda
In my previous blog post on this case, I wrote: This lawsuit raises one of the venerable but surprisingly vexing copyright law questions: when is a price copyrightable? That might sound like a stupid question because “facts” aren’t copyrightable and…
New York Judge Shuts Down a SAD Scheme TRO Request–CJB Global v. Schedule A Defendants
This SAD Scheme case ended up before Judge Buchwald, who shreds it. Judge Buchwald recaps the scheme’s fundamental corruptness: if all of plaintiff’s requested ex parte relief were to be granted, plaintiff would at the outset be entitled to broad…
Grok’s TOS Formation Failed–Skaggs v. X.ai
This case naturally raises some questions that Musk might choose to pose to Grok, like: “Grok, is it bad when TOS formation fails?” “Grok, what are best practices for TOS formation and does our current TOS formation process satisfy those?”…
Every SAD Scheme Opinion Is Weird In Its Own Way–Cai v. Chaozhoushi Yitong Dianzi Shangwu Youxiangongsi
This case generally follows the SAD Scheme template, but with several twists: it’s in the Western District of Texas, not the more typical N.D. Ill. it’s a copyright claim rather than the more typical trademark claim it’s against a single…
11th Circuit Rejects Keyword Advertising Liability–Deltona v. NOCO
This case involves two competitors in the vehicle-battery charger industry. The plaintiff calls its offering “Battery Tender” (based on the analogy of a ship’s tender) and claims trademark rights in the term. Believing that the term is generic, NOCO began…
Another Court Shuts the Door on “Yelp Law” Drive-By Lawsuits–Arterberry v. Peet’s
Last week, I blogged the Moss v. GoDaddy decision holding that a key part of California’s Yelp Law doesn’t authorize a private right of action. If you didn’t read that post, go read it now because this post assumes you…