Path May Be Liable for Text-Spamming Users’ Contact Lists
Sterk, of Sterk v. Redbox fame, sued Path, alleging that he received unsolicited marketing texts from Path. The court declined Path’s request to stay the case in favor of FCC proceedings, and the parties filed summary judgment motions on the…
CAN-SPAM Preemption Doesn’t Apply To Fraud…And More
This a spam case. Plaintiff sued, alleging violations of California’s spam statute with respect to 49 emails. Plaintiff alleged that defendants: register[ed] its domain names used to send spams to unregistered fictitious business names claiming their addresses to be boxes…
Hulu Unable to Shake Video Privacy Protection Act Claims
Plaintiffs were Hulu Plus subscribers who alleged that Hulu improperly disclosed their personal information to third parties (comScore and Facebook) in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act. On Hulu’s motion for summary judgment, the court grants it as to…
Disclosing Unique User IDs In URLs Doesn’t Violate ECPA–In re Zynga/Facebook
In separate lawsuits, plaintiffs alleged Facebook and Zynga violated the Stored Communications Act (in Zynga’s case, also the Wiretap Act). The crux of plaintiffs’ allegations was that when a Facebook user clicked on an ad or a link, the HTTP…
Apple May Be Liable For Privacy Violations by Third Party Developed Apps
There are so many privacy lawsuits around the iOS ecosystem that it’s tough to keep track of them all. This particular (consolidated) lawsuit involves privacy claims against Apple and also against various apps, including Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Facebook,…
Advertiser May Have Claims Against SEO Firm Using Undisclosed Spammy Practices
A law firm bought SEO services from an organization called “The Rainmaker Institute.” The relationship didn’t end well. The law firm now says the SEO firm used undisclosed spammy techniques that had a high risk of triggering Google penalties. Allegations…
Privacy Claims Based on LinkedIn’s Security Promises Survive Motion to Dismiss
This is a lawsuit filed in the wake of a widely reported data breach at LinkedIn. Plaintiffs alleged benefit-of-the-bargain type claims against LinkedIn, saying LinkedIn failed to live up to its security practices. The first time around, the court rejected…
Keyword Advertising Doesn’t Create General Jurisdiction–Rocke v. Pebble Beach
I know, Internet jurisdiction cases are typically blah, but this was more interesting than most. Still, I’ll keep this post brief. The Rockes visited the well-known Pebble Beach Resorts in California. Mrs. Rocke suffered a slip-and-fall there but sued the…
‘Flash Sale’ Website Defeats Class Action Claim With Mandatory Arbitration Clause–Starke v. Gilt
This is a straightforward ruling, but I liked it because it nicely illustrates what’s happening in the field and the courts right now. Gilt Groupe runs the “flash sale” website Gilt.com. I know some folks love these sites but I’ve…
A ‘Juicy’ Supreme Court Case On Food Labeling Regulation–Pom Wonderful v. Coca-Cola (Forbes Cross-Post)
[Note: I wrote this as a preview to the oral arguments at the Supreme Court. I wasn’t sure how to read the tea leaves from oral arguments, but Rebecca thinks the justices asked harder questions of Coca-Cola than of Pom.]…