The SAD Scheme as an Institutional Failure

[These are my rough-draft talk notes from a recent workshop of trademark law professors.] The SAD Scheme involves a trademark owner suing dozens/hundreds of defendants using a sealed complaint, getting an ex parte TRO, and then having the online marketplaces…

Section 230 Doesn't Apply to Sending Non-Consensual Pornography by Postal Mail--Doe v. Spencer

Spencer’s wife had an extra-marital affair with Doe. Doe sent “photographs and screen shots of sexually explicit images” to the wife. Spencer, the husband, came into possession of these materials via unspecified means. He assembled various collages of the images…

Print-on-Demand Service Defeats Fish Illustrator's Copyright Claim--Tomelleri v. Sunfrog

Tomelleri (who has appeared on this blog before) illustrates fishes (see court exhibit on the right). He sued a print-on-demand service (Sunfrog) over alleged IP violations of his illustrations. If that rings a bell, it’s because just yesterday I blogged…

In the ongoing legal battles over print-on-demand services, RedBubble and (more recently) Printify have sometimes achieved favorable results by disaggregating all of the functions and acting solely as a marketing agent for the disaggregated vendors. These defense-favorable outcomes may work…

I’m pleased to announce the publication of my essay, “Assuming Good Faith Online,” in the Journal of Online Trust and Safety. The published version. This essay has had a more convoluted publication history than most. I initially drafted it in…

WIPIP 2024 Highlights

Earlier this month, the High Tech Law Institute hosted the 2024 Works-in-Progress Intellectual Property (WIPIP), featuring nearly 90 presentations and over 110 attendees from four continents. The photo album. Some of my highlights from the event: Reconvening in physical space….

by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy There is a new most important legal precedent in the world of web scraping. Bright Data appears to have prevailed in its dispute against Meta. Last Friday, the parties stipulated to dismiss their lawsuit, with…

Court Preliminarily Enjoins Ohio's Law Requiring Parental Consent for Children's Social Media Usage--NetChoice v. Yost

[I blogged the Supreme Court oral arguments in the NetChoice cases yesterday. That decision could have significant implications for this case as well as all other First Amendment challenges of states’ efforts to censor social media.] I previously blogged the…

Comments on the NetChoice/Moody/Paxton SCOTUS Oral Arguments

In 2021, Florida and Texas enacted “social media censorship” laws. These laws were never serious policy proposals; instead, the legislatures simply wanted to signal to voters that they hated “Big Tech.” The laws assembled a multitude of disparate policy ideas…

Thiccc Boy produces The Fighter & the Kid podcast, led by Brendan Schaub (the titular “fighter”). Swindelles (a/k/a Yew Neek Ness…uniqueness, get it?) broadcast at SaiyanZStream on YouTube (the stream appears to be gone). Swindelle made and posted reaction videos…