Section 230 Ends Lawsuit by Twitter Premium Subscriber–Taddeo-Waite v. X
This court summarizes: “At the core of Taddeo-Waite’s complaint is his desire to hold X liable for allegedly maintaining a graphic and upsetting post on its platform, amplifying the reach…
New Book Chapter Tells the TSPA and TSF Origin Stories
I’ve posted a transcript of a conversation between me and my TSPA and TSF cofounders Adelin Cai and Clara Tsao, guided by Amanda Menking of TSF. In the conversation, we…
The YOLO Remand Shows Why the 9th Circuit Should Stop Carving Up Section 230–Bride v. Snap
This is the remand of the troubling Ninth Circuit Section 230 decision in Bride v. YOLO. As you may recall, the plaintiffs claims that YOLO made statements about its content…
Raj Abhyanker’s Firm Ordered to Pay $90k+ for Ill-Advised Trademark Enforcement Lawsuit–LegalForce v. LawFirms
In one of Judge Alsup’s last rulings before he retired, after a bench trial he rejected LegalForce’s trademark claims over the LawFirms logo (the first logo was pre-litigation; the defendant…
WorldStarHipHop Gets Section 230 Dismissal–Eizenga v. MediaLab
The court describes the video in question (as alleged): an anonymous social media account and online “persona” known as Rain Drops Media (“Rain Drops”) published a defamatory video falsely suggesting…
Court Rejects Lawsuit Over Online Criticisms of a Dater–D’Ambrosio v. Meta
Abbigail Rajala posted a critical review of her dating experience with Nikko D’Ambrosio on the Chicago subboard of Facebook’s Spill the Tea group. According to the district court, D’Ambrosio “sued…
Blogger’s Photo Republication Isn’t Fair Use–Vedros v. Endless Mt. Labradors
This is a run-of-the-mill photographer copyright enforcement action. As a commission for an advertiser, Vedros created a photo that depicts “a dog placing its front paws on a scale with…
TOS Formation Fails, and So Does Section 230–Judge v. Academia
The named plaintiff is a professor. The defendant is a website, Academia, that helps professors share their works publicly. Academia heavily promotes its “Mentions” service that tracks a professor’s mentions…
Meta Defeats Two More Account Termination/Content Removal Lawsuits
…are inseparable from Defendant’s status or conduct as publisher and are barred by section 230(c)(1). [Eric’s note: the court doesn’t address the seemingly obvious problem that a statute can’t override…
SAD Scheme Defendant Gets Damages Payout from the Bond–Bright Head v. Schedule A Defendants
[This is a ruling from a month ago…I just learned about it.] The court starts out: “Plaintiff’s pursuit of a preliminary injunction in this “Schedule A” patent infringement suit fizzled…