Florida and Its Amici Try to Justify Government Censorship in the 11th Circuit--NetChoice v. Moody

Earlier this year, Florida enacted a wide-ranging, complex, poorly drafted, and enthusiastically censorial law, SB7072. Among other problems, the law dictates how “social media platforms” can make their editorial decisions. Fortunately, a Florida federal judge blocked Florida’s social media censorship…

“In-line linking” uses the Internet’s magic to let a web page incorporate a file, such as a photo or video, into a page’s display without actually hosting it. In 2007, in Perfect 10 v. Amazon, the Ninth Circuit ruled that…

A Roundup of German Caselaw Regarding Emojis and Emoticons (Guest Blog Post)

by guest blogger Dr. Matthias Pendl, Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law Introduction Emoji are a worldwide phenomenon in modern communication, and so unsurprisingly emoji cases are popping up in Germany as well. Although the number of published…

Think Keyword Metatags Are Dead? They Are (Except in Court)--Reflex v. Luxy

Check your calendar. Yes, it’s 2021. But trademark plaintiffs and judges are still partying like it’s 1999. The plaintiff is Seeking Arrangements, one of my favorite websites to base my Internet Law exams on. The defendant is a competitor, Luxy….

To No One's Surprise, FOSTA Is Confounding Judges--J.B. v. G6

Plaintiffs underutilitized FOSTA’s new Section 230 exclusions for the first two years after the law’s enactment, but now we are getting FOSTA rulings at a rapid clip. Given FOSTA’s terrible drafting, it’s not surprising that the rulings are not agreeing…

The plaintiff is deaf. He is a serial litigant (“By this Court’s count, Mr. Winegard had filed at least forty-four ADA lawsuits in this district alone as of August 16, 2021”). He says that he can’t watch video on the…

Australian High Court Says Facebook Accountholders "Publish" Third-Party Defamatory Comments--Fairfax Media v. Voller

The High Court of Australia has issued a troubling ruling that says Facebook accountholders potentially could be strictly liable for all defamatory comments to their Facebook posts. That legal standard could devastate social media usage in Australia. It increases the risk…

FOSTA Claim Can Proceed Against Twitter--Doe v. Twitter

The court summarizes the allegations: Plaintiffs John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 allege that when they were thirteen years old they were solicited and recruited for sex trafficking and manipulated into providing to a third-party sex trafficker pornographic videos…

As Expected, Malwarebytes Defeats Enigma's Lawsuit Without Section 230's Help

Malwarebytes and Enigma offer competitive anti-threat software. Malwarebytes classified Enigma’s software as a “potentially unwanted program,” or PUP, and quarantined the programs. Enigma sued Malwarebytes for that classification/quarantine. Initially, the district court dismissed the case on Section 230(c)(2)(B) grounds. In…

Online 'Diatribe' Over a Birthday Cake Isn't Protected by Anti-SLAPP Law--Woodhill Ventures v. Yang

The court opinion starts: “This case is about a birthday cake.” Ben “Baller” Yang, blinger to some stars, and his wife threw a birthday party for their 7 year old child, London (is this London’s Instagram page?). The wife ordered…