Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg: The Right Way to Evaluate Wrongfulness (Guest Blog Post)
by guest bloggers Bruce Boyden (Marquette Law) & Zahr Said (Santa Clara Law) As we mentioned in our previous post, the Ninth Circuit’s intrinsic-extrinsic framework for substantial similarity has a…
The Fifth Circuit Does Fifth Circuit Things in Copyright Embedding Case–Emmerich v. Particle
…that it could not meet the definition of “fixed,” meaning embodied for more than a transitory duration. Using the Goldman case as an example: the news outlets embedded the copyrighted…
Snap Wants to be a State Actor??–Kansas v. Snap
For decades, private Internet services have uniformly tried to avoid being legally characterized as government actors. If they become state actors, they must comply with Constitutional restrictions–meaning the Constitutionally required…
Op-Ed: Meta’s $5 Billion Deal with the State AGs to Take Down its Rivals
…the integrity of their enforcement decisions, the state AGs have discredited themselves as contributors to those conversations. Eric Goldman is a law professor and associate dean for research at Santa…
Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg: All About That Intrinsic Test? (Guest Blog Post)
by guest bloggers Bruce Boyden (Marquette Law) & Zahr Said (Santa Clara Law) On June 9, the Ninth Circuit granted rehearing en banc in Sedlik v. Von Drachenberg, agreeing to…
Court Wipes Out SAD Scheme Default Judgment Due to Improper Email Service–Deckers v. Litfun
Deckers owns the UGG brand. It is a repeat SAD Scheme plaintiff. In this case, it sued 30 defendants for infringement, got permission to serve the lawsuit by email, and…
When is a Man’s Penis Size a “Matter of Legitimate Public Concern”?–Kalil v. Kalil
…(D. Minn. Sept. 17, 2026). If you’ve seen the movie, this clip from Blazing Saddles was probably on your mind too: https://blog.ericgoldman.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Excuse_me_while_I_whip_this_out_from_Blazing_Saddles.mp4 The Seinfeld episode, The Hamptons, is also topical….
Another Abusive “Yelp Law” Lawsuit Fails–Scott v. Ulta
If you aren’t familiar with the mass-lawsuit campaign to weaponize California’s “Yelp Law,” Civil Code 1670.8, maybe start here to get up to speed. In short, California banned contract provisions…
Uber Guests Aren’t Bound By Uber’s TOS–Walker v. Uber
A section from my Internet Law casebook’s chapter on online contracts is titled: “Uber’s TOS Formation Madness. An entire chapter could be dedicated solely to Uber’s TOS dramas!” Here’s another…
After $6M and 17 Years Fighting the Record Labels’ Copyright Lawfare, the Court Awards Vimeo $16k in Costs–Capitol Records v. Vimeo
The record labels sued Vimeo for user-caused copyright infringement in 2009. The case is still ongoing in 2026. How old is this lawsuit? If it were a person, it would…