How Copyright Law Fosters Anti-Competitive Behavior, Part Infinity--Bayam v. ID Tech

Bayam and ID Tech run rival online jewelry businesses. Both use Shopify as a service provider. ID Tech believed that Bayam copies too much of its copyrighted website content and pursued a whirlwind of enforcement activity, including filing two lawsuits…

A 5 Month Check-In on the Copyright Claims Board (CCB)

I prepared these statistics on November 18, 2022, roughly 5 months after launch. Total number of cases: 247. This continues to imply a run rate of about 600 cases per year, or less than 2 cases per day. According to…

Review of the "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?" Netflix Documentary

In the mid-1990s, at the height of the Cola Wars, Pepsi ran an ad to introduce its “Pepsi Stuff” loyalty program, including a featured prize of a Harrier Jet for 7M points–a ridiculously high number that was supposed to signal…

Another Tough People Search Ruling--Spindler v. Seamless

Seamless offers a customer lead tool that displays the prospect’s personal information behind a subscription paywall with try-before-you-buy options. The plaintiff sued Seamless for violations of California’s publicity rights statute and related claims. The court denies Seamless’ motion to dismiss….

Ninth Circuit Easily Rejects Jawboning Claims Against YouTube--Doe v. Google

This is one of the many MAGA lawsuits over content moderation allegedly biased against conservatives–in this case, by YouTube as part of its crackdown on conspiracy theories. The plaintiffs argued that government jawboning turned YouTube into a state actor. The…

My Testimony to the Colombian Constitutional Court Regarding Online Account Terminations and Content Removals

Today, I testified remotely before the Colombian Constitutional Court in the case of Esperanza Gómez Silva c. Meta Platforms, Inc. y Facebook Colombia S.A.S. Expediente T-8.764.298. In a procedure I don’t understand, the court organized a public hearing to discuss…

Twitter Wins Another Account Termination Case--Yuksel v. Twitter

This is another account termination/suspension case, which turns out like all of the others. Yuksel was a longtime Twitter user with 142k followers. He claims that Twitter suspended his account at the behest of the Turkish government. The court dismisses…

Fourth Circuit Takes a Wrecking Ball to Zeran and Section 230--Henderson v. Public Data

Ugh, this Fourth Circuit opinion is terrible. I instantly knew it was written by a Trump appointee from the Federalist Society because it had the characteristic self-assured yet sloppy writing style. And what’s the deal with Justice Thomas fandom among…

by Kieran McCarthy When the Supreme Court decided Van Buren v. United States last summer, many Computer Fraud and Abuse Act experts felt that the decision avoided the worst interpretations of the CFAA, while consciously leaving most of its practical…

Section 230 Protects TikTok for "Blackout Challenge" Death, Despite the Algorithms--Anderson v. TikTok

A tragic story: a 10-year old girl saw the Blackout Challenge on TikTok, tried it herself, and died. The mom sued TikTok for design defect and failure to warn claims under strict products liability and negligence theories. The mom claimed…