Lawsuit Against Google Over In-App Purchases By Minors Squeaks Past Motion to Dismiss
This is a lawsuit against Google over in-app purchases made by minor children, reminiscent of a similar lawsuit against Apple. Plaintiff on behalf of a putative class alleged that, among other things, Google allowed someone to make a purchase for…
Judge Koh Dismisses the Bulk of the Yahoo Email Scanning Class Action
Plaintiffs are non-Yahoo email users who sent messages to Yahoo users. They allege that Yahoo’s email scans violate federal and state wiretapping laws and invade their privacy. ECPA: This claim alleges that Yahoo “intercepts” the emails. ECPA is subject to…
It’s Not Possible To Steal Facebook ‘Likes’–Mattocks v. BET
In 2008, Plaintiff Stacey Mattocks developed an (initially unofficial) Facebook page focusing on “The Game,” a television series initially aired on CW and later acquired by BET. In 2010, BET contacted Mattocks and hired her as a part-time worker, paying…
Announcing the Second Edition of “Advertising & Marketing Law: Cases and Materials” by Tushnet & Goldman
Rebecca Tushnet and I are pleased to announce the release of Advertising & Marketing Law: Cases and Materials, second edition (2014). It’s available at Gumroad as a $11.50 DRM-free download (PDF version / epub mobile device version) and other outlets….
Does Yelp Have The ‘Most Trusted Reviews’? A Court Wants To Know More (Forbes Cross-Post)
Few online algorithms generate as much criticism as Yelp’s algorithm for filtering its users’ reviews, but Yelp has so far successfully avoided a serious legal challenge to its filter. Recently, a California appellate court green-lighted a lawsuit over how Yelp…
Q2 2014 Quick Links, Part 3 (Privacy, Marketing, E-Commerce & More)
Privacy * Snapchat’s basic value proposition (“Disappearing digital photos”) has been deceptive from the beginning. The FTC busted them for it. (I saw James Grimmelmann added this to his Internet Law casebook. We’ve also added it to our Advertising Law…
Lawsuit Over Google’s Unified Privacy Policy Pared Down, But Two Claims Survive
This is a lawsuit against Google for “commingling user data across different Google products.” Under the policy in effect before March 2012, information collected in one particular Google product was not automatically combined with information from another product. This changed…
Lawyer’s Suit Over “Professional Recognition” Spam Flops
Say you’re a lawyer and you receive a promotional email intimating that you’re one of the “Top Lawyers in California.” You probably just delete it and move on, right? That would be too easy. Nicholas Bontrager sued Showmark alleging that…
Are We Going To See An Explosion Of Food Labeling Lawsuits?–POM v. Coca-Cola (Forbes Cross-Post)
POM, the pomegranate juice maker, is unhappy that Coca-Cola sells a Minute Maid “Pomegranate Blueberry Blend of 5 Juices” that contains only 0.3% pomegranate juice and 0.2% blueberry juice. Even though Coca-Cola apparently complies with Food and Drug Administration (FDA)…
Email Harvesting: Repeated Emails From LinkedIn May Violate Publicity Rights
This is a lawsuit alleging that LinkedIn improperly mined users’ contact lists and sent them repeated invitation emails. While Judge Koh eliminated the Stored Communications Act and California anti-hacking statute claims, a chunk of the lawsuit remains. Harvesting contact lists…