Another Jawboning Case Fails in the 9th Circuit (But a TAFS Judge Doesn't Like the Biden Administration)--Rogalinksi v. Meta

[I’m far behind in my blogging queue, especially with respect to the social media addiction rulings.] I previously summarized this case: Rogalinski made several posts about COVID. Facebook added “missing context” labels to two of them and removed another one….

Facebook Faces Contributory Trademark Liability for Marketplace Listings--Car-Freshner v. Meta

This case involves the hanging “car freshener” (which usually smells worse than any odors it tries to mask) in the shape of a tree. The rightsowner has trademark registrations for the tree-shaped outline: Armed with protectable rights in tree outlines,…

YouTuber Loses Lawsuit Demanding $22/View--Ray v. Google

(As will be obvious in a moment, this is a pro se lawsuit). Ray created a YouTube account and aspired to become a YouTube Partner. He posted 50 videos that generated over 317k views. Incredibly, Ray thought Google promised to…

Apple's App Store Can Reject Unwanted Apps--Coronavirus Reporter v. Apple

Apple rejected two of the plaintiffs’ apps, “Coronavirus Reporter” and “Bitcoin Lottery,” for its app store. Apple rejected the Coronavirus Reporter app because it wasn’t associated with a government entity or medical institution; and it rejected the Bitcoin Lottery app…

Ninth Circuit Revives Choreography Copyright Claims Over Fortnite Emotes--Hanagami v. Epic

Hanagami is a celebrity choreographer. He has over 4.5M YouTube followers and nearly 1B video views. He posted a video entitled “CHARLIE PUTH – How Long | Kyle Hanagami Choreography” that contained 480 “counts” of choreography, composed of 96 counts…

Some New Section 230 Memes

I gave a brand-new talk about Section 230 at the California Lawyers Association IP Institute. (It was recorded, but I believe it will be behind the CLA paywall). You can see my completely new slide deck here. It contains some…

Section 230 Applies to Nextdoor Consumer Reviews--Duffer v. Nextdoor

The court summarizes the plaintiff’s allegations: Plaintiff alleges that in October, 2020, he received a negative review on Nextdoor from a former customer. A series of other negative reviews followed. An associate of the plaintiff alerted Nextdoor about the reviews…

Section 230 Protects Gmail's Spam Filter--RNC v. Google

[My blogging queue has gotten backlogged. I’m slowly catching up. I hope you enjoy these 2,800 words on legal topics you assumed were definitively resolved over a dozen years ago.] Introduction This lawsuit is one of the many lawsuits around…

The DTSA Ex Parte Seizure Provision Was Always Bad Policy--Janssen v. Evenus

In 2016, Congress enacted the Defend Trade Secret Act (DTSA). Among other provisions, it created a brand-new remedy, the ex parte seizure order, that allows trade secret owners to grab allegedly stolen trade secret items before they are spirited away…

Section 230 Once Again Applies to Claims Over Offline Sexual Abuse--Doe v. Grindr

John Doe, a 13 year old, created a Grindr profile and connected with Pritt. They met offline and engaged in sex. Doe sued Grindr for negligence and IIED. Grindr successfully defends on Section 230 grounds. ICS Provider. Yes. Cite to…