by guest blogger Kieran McCarthy Many characterize the law of copyright preemption of contracts as a circuit split. But that undersells the level of inconsistency in courts’ interpretations of the law of copyright preemption. It’s not that half of federal…

SAD Scheme Cases Are Always Troubling--Betty's Best v. Schedule A Defendants 😠

Every SAD Scheme lawsuit is problematic, though the specific reasons may differ. Each lawsuit creates dozens or hundreds of individual dramas, few of which receive any public scrutiny, and usually comes at the cost of due process and the rule…

Hot Take on the Wavy Baby Decision (Guest Blog Post)

by guest blogger Christine Haight Farley Because it is grading season, when I read the Second Circuit’s per curiam decision in Vans, Inc. v. MSCHF Prod. Studio, Inc., 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 32063 (2d Cir. 2023), I already had my red grading…

Section 230 Helps Amazon Defeat False Advertising Lawsuit Over Printer Ink Cartridges--Planet Green v. Amazon

The plaintiff sells remanufactured printer ink cartridges. The plaintiff claims that Amazon listings falsely claim that other merchants’ cartridges are “remanufactured” or “recycled.” For reasons unclear to me, the plaintiff thought it would be a good idea to sue Amazon…

Suspended Twitter User Loses Lawsuit Over Data Access--Thomas v. Twitter

Twitter suspended the plaintiff’s Twitter account @Zay_Cipher. He wanted access to his content, so he requested an account download. However, he says the download links provided by Twitter were “defective,” so he sued Twitter pro se. Conversion. “Plaintiff’s simple act…

Plaintiffs Are Eager to Invoke the Texas Social Media Censorship Law, But Will They Have to Do So in California?

Plaintiffs CAN’T WAIT to sue Internet services using the Texas social media censorship law. Indeed, they are already filing lawsuits despite the pending Supreme Court appeal hanging over the law. But surprise! The plaintiffs may have to sue in California…

My Amicus Brief in Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton

In collaboration with superstar lawyer Michael Kwun, I submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court against the Florida and Texas social media censorship laws. I had previously filed an amicus brief supporting certiorari in the Florida case, and…

Judge Pushes Back on SAD Scheme Sealing Requests

A signature feature of SAD Scheme cases is that rightsowners typically try to seal defendants’ identities. The sealing helps rightsowners in several ways, including preserving their ability to proceed without defendant involvement, springing account and cash freezes on defendants to…

Roblox Sanctioned for SAD Scheme Abuse--Roblox v. Schedule A Defendants

TIL: Roblox regularly uses the SAD Scheme. I found at least 19 cases. In the lawsuit I’m covering today, Roblox named over 250 defendants. If that’s true with the other 18 cases, Roblox may have sued 4,000+ defendants using the…

Amazon May Be Liable for Merchant's Spycam--M.S. v. Amazon

This case involves an “embedded pinhole camera” “disguised” as a “mountable hook” that a Doe merchant offered in Amazon’s Marketplace. Allegedly, Amazon inspected the item three times: Amazon’s Product Safety Team inspected it to confirm it couldn’t be used to…