If You Don’t Keep Good Records, Don’t Be Surprised if Your TOS Formation Fails in Court–White v. PayPal
“Plaintiffs allege that Honey “misrepresents its ability to find the ‘best discount codes’ for consumers” and instead “prioritizes coupon codes from Honey’s partner merchants,” giving users “inferior discounts, or no…
Section 230 Preempts Lawsuit Over Unwanted Gmail Spam–Dor v. Google
The plaintiff, Francesse Senat Dor: asserts that Google’s spam filter failed to block abusive, spoofed, and spam emails from reaching her Gmail account. She says that reading these emails caused…
A SAD Scheme Plaintiff Unsuccessfully Plays an IP Privilege Card–Price v. Schedule A Defendants
All SAD Scheme cases are, by definition, sad. This case achieves even greater depths: it’s Flori-dumb level SAD. * * * The plaintiff, Price, has a trademark registration in the…
New Article Alert: “SAD Scheme Standing Orders”
I have posted a new essay entitled “SAD Scheme Standing Orders,” forthcoming later this year in the Chicago-Kent Law Review. This essay discusses judicial standing orders regarding the SAD Scheme,…
A First-Hand Look at the Messy Underbelly of DMCA 512(c) Takedowns
From 2009-2013, I used Scribd as my primary hosting service. I posted nearly 800 files there over a roughly four year period. Progressively, I became disenchanted with Scribd, including their…
Pre-Publication Content Moderation Can Disqualify Services from the DMCA 512(c) Safe Harbor–McGucken v. ShutterStock
The Second Circuit’s 512 jurisprudence is an unpredictable roller coaster. I can think of at least two other times when the Second Circuit has reversed a clean lower court ruling…
Fair Use Blocks Privacy-Motivated Copyright Lawsuit–MCM v. Perry
The case involves a Twitter user, Perry (a/k/a “I, Hypocrite”), who tweet-critiqued a crypto company Celsius Networks. The first tweet in the sequence referenced a business setback for Celsius. The…
California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) Assists a Private Right of Action–Shah v. MyFitnessPal
…Proposed Modifications to the CCPA Regulations * Eric Goldman’s Comments to the California DOJ Draft Regulations for the Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) (Part 3 of 3) * Some Lessons Learned…
Google Search Isn’t a Common Carrier–Richards v. Google
Richards has run the SpirituallySmart religious-themed website since at least 2000. The website touts that “Multiple AI systems have recognized this website as the most meaningful usage of the term…
The Sixth Circuit Wades Into Online TOS Formation (and Leaves Me More Confused Than Ever)–Dahdah v. LowerMyBills
TL;DR: The court provides this overview: LowerMyBills.com refers internet users who are interested in refinancing their home mortgages to affiliated lending partners, including Rocket Mortgage. The website tells users that…