This case involves two copyright-protected photos that users submitted to the RageOn print-on-demand service. Among other defenses, RageOn invoked the DMCA safe harbor. The Greg Young v. Zazzle case held that Zazzle qualified for the 512(c) safe harbor for displaying…

Local Craigslist Ads Are Part of Interstate Commerce--US v. Luong

Luong advertised a used car on Craigslist’s San Francisco Bay Area site, in the “Dublin/Pleasanton/Livermore” subsection of the “East Bay” section. This area is sometimes called the Livermore Valley. From Livermore to the closest point in Nevada is about 200…

Why Are Pizzerias Arguing Whether Web Browsing Is Copyright Infringement?--Imapizza v. At Pizza

“&Pizza” runs an East Coast pizzeria chain. “@Pizza” runs a UK pizzeria chain. Let’s disregard that both brands are terrible (the & and @ symbols plus the generic term–UGH) and that @Pizza may not own its eponymous Twitter account (the…

Announcing the 2020 Edition of My Internet Law Casebook

I’m pleased to announce this year’s edition of my Internet Law casebook, Internet Law: Cases & Materials. It’s available as a PDF at Gumroad for $10, as a Kindle book for $9.99, and in hard copy at Amazon for $20. [Regarding the hard copy:…

Is It OK to Embed Instagram Photos? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We recently covered Sinclair v. Ziff Davis, addressing whether Instagram’s terms of service authorize a third party to publish photos posted to Instagram by embedding those photos online. The court in that case initially said yes. However, the court’s reconsideration…

Copyright * Sony Music Entertainment v. Cox Communications, Inc., 2020 WL 3121306 (E.D. Va. June 2, 2020). Each downloaded song file generally can support its own statutory damage, but “compilations” only get one statutory damages award, and no double-counting of…

Court Can't Compel Twitter to Shut Down Trump's Account

This lawsuit involves the @realdonaldtrump Twitter account. Has any Twitter account ever generated more litigation? The plaintiffs allege that Twitter did not properly enforce its TOS against the account. The plaintiff sought two types of relief: (1) a declaration that…

Emojis Keep Teen Out of Jail--State v. DRC

Tomorrow is World Emoji Day (named because most calendar emojis depictions show July 17 on the calendar). To celebrate the power of emojis, I’m blogging a case where emojis helped a teen avoid jail. DRC and her mom were having…

Trump's Twitter Tantrums Are Affecting How Judges Evaluate Online Discourse--US v. Cook

The state unsuccessfully prosecuted Cook for drug offenses. “Not content to quietly accept his victory, Cook made disparaging remarks on the internet about various players in his Calhoun County prosecution.” The government prosecuted him again, this time for the federal…

IMDb has a subscription service, where subscribers can remove their age from their personal profiles (this feature wasn’t at issue in this case), and a free service, where IMDb displays an actor’s age (compiled from unspecified sources) even if the…