Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

January 18, 2024
Law Firm To 9th Circuit: ‘Common Practice’ Of Keyword Ads Infringed No Trademarks

SAN FRANCISCO — Asking the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to affirm a trial court’s judgment that its purchasing of a competitor’s trademark in Google keyword ads was not trademark infringement, an Arizona law firm contends in its appellee brief that the purchasing of such online advertisements is a “common practice” that, at best, resulted in de minimis consumer confusion.
January 17, 2024
Panel: Southwest’s Costs Are Not Categorically Barred From System Failure Coverage

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Jan. 16 determined that a lower court erred in finding that Southwest Airlines' costs related to a 2016 computer system failure are categorically barred from coverage as a matter of law, reversing and remanding the lower court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a cyber risk insurer in a coverage dispute arising from Southwest’s alleged more than $77 million in losses resulting from the system failure and subsequent flight disruptions.
January 12, 2024
COMMENTARY: The Changing Landscape Of Antitrust Scrutiny In A Post-Pandemic World

By Gary Foster, Raphael Kiess and Rishi Chhatwal
January 16, 2024
Epic, Apple Denied Certiorari In UCL Antitrust Dispute Over App Store, Fortnite

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Epic Games Inc. and Apple Inc. saw their competing petitions for certiorari denied by the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 16, with the high court declining to consider questions about the Sherman Act and injunctive relief in the companies’ respective claims for monopolistic behavior, contractual duties and unfair competition in the sale of apps and related items for mobile devices using Apple’s operating system (iOS).
January 16, 2024
Per Jack Daniel’s Ruling, 9th Circuit Reverses In ‘Punchbowl’ Trademark Suit

PASADENA, Calif. — The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Jack Daniel’s Properties Inc. v. VIP Products LLC “altered the law that governed” when it previously found that an online news service’s use of the “Punchbowl” mark did not dilute a party-planning firm’s trademark, a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 12, leading it to, after rehearing, issue a revised opinion reversing a trial court’s dismissal and remanding for further consideration under the traditional likelihood of confusion test.
January 12, 2024
Judge Dismisses With Prejudice UCL Suit Against Apple For ICloud Storage Fees

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Jan. 11 granted Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss a third amended putative class complaint brought by plaintiffs who claim that Apple “addicted” them to its free iCloud data storage service and then required them to pay once the data they stored exceeded its free tier, finding that they failed to plead any misrepresentations or fraudulent conduct.
January 12, 2024
EBay Fined $3 Million For Harassment Campaign Against Online Critics

BOSTON — In a deferred prosecution agreement filed Jan. 11 in Massachusetts federal court, eBay Inc. announced that it is paying a $3 million criminal monetary payment to resolve charges of stalking, witness tampering and destruction of records related to a campaign of harassment carried out by a group of eBay employees and executives against a couple that published articles on their website that were critical of the online auction platform provider.
January 10, 2024
Judge Compels Arbitration Of UCL Suit Accusing App Of Illegal Sportsbook Services

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on Jan. 9 granted a motion to compel arbitration of putative class claims against an app company accused of offering illegal sports gambling services in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
January 10, 2024
Copyright Claims Tossed With Leave To Amend In California Software Row

SAN FRANCISCO — Counterclaims of direct and contributory copyright infringement leveled by a software developer against a former licensee were dismissed as “too conclusory” on Jan. 9 by a federal judge in California.
January 10, 2024
Judge Affirms Partial Sanctions Denial In Bitcoin Ownership Suit

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Overruling a bitcoin mining firm’s objections to a magistrate judge’s partial denial of a motion to impose post-trial discovery sanctions on the defendant in a cryptocurrency ownership dispute, a Florida federal judge deemed the magistrate’s ruling “to be well-reasoned and correct” related to required disclosures and compliance with court deadlines in completing a judgment debtor fact form.
January 09, 2024
Twitter-Banning Suit Remanded; Amount In Controversy Found Lacking

SAN FRANCISCO — Twitter Inc. failed to establish that the amount in controversy in a lawsuit over the suspension of two attorneys’ social media accounts exceeded the minimum federal threshold of $75,000, a California federal judge found, granting the plaintiff’s motion to remand the matter to Florida state court.
January 08, 2024
Pet Brush Maker May Subpoena Meta To Obtain Online Counterfeiters’ Identities

SAN FRANCISCO — A group of website operators accused of selling and advertising counterfeit goods lost their bid to quash a discovery subpoena on Meta Platforms Inc., with a California federal judge finding that the plaintiff demonstrated that good cause exists to obtain the defendants’ identifying information for the purpose of serving them with its complaint for intellectual property infringement and unfair competition.
January 05, 2024
Merck, Insurers Ask N.J. High Court To Dismiss Cyberattack Coverage Dispute

TRENTON, N.J. — Merck & Co. Inc. and certain insurers filed stipulations in the New Jersey Supreme Court seeking dismissal of the insurers from Merck’s lawsuit seeking coverage for its losses arising from a June 2017 malware/cyberattack.
January 05, 2024
Amicus Asks 2nd Circuit To Clarify Fair Use Standard In Digital Library Suit

NEW YORK — Filing a brief in support of neither party in an appeal by Internet Archive (IA) of a New York federal court’s finding that the “controlled digital lending” practiced in its digital library did not constitute fair use under the Copyright Act, amicus curiae HathiTrust asks the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to specify that fair use, “as an ‘equitable rule of reason,’” should be decided on a case-by-case basis “to avoid rigid application of the copyright statute when . . . it would stifle the very creativity” protected by the statute.
January 04, 2024
9th Circuit Consolidates 3 Terror-Aiding Cases Seeking Remand

SAN FRANCISCO — Appeals in three cases in which surviving family members of terror victims bring claims against Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google LLC under the Antiterrorism Act (ATA) were consolidated Jan. 3 by the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals as it prepares to consider the appellants’ parallel motions to remand the lawsuits for the purpose of filing amended complaints in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings and similar terror-aiding suits.
January 04, 2024
Apple, Epic Defend Their Certiorari Bids Over UCL Antitrust, National Injunction

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court recently announced that on Jan. 12 it will consider related petitions for certiorari filed by Epic Games Inc. and Apple Inc. that both sprung from the companies’ disputes over Apple’s alleged antitrust violations under California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and a trial court’s imposition of a nationwide injunction barring some of the purported anti-competitive practices.
January 04, 2024
Montana Attorney General Appeals Injunction Of TikTok Ban To 9th Circuit

SAN FRANCISCO — One month after a Montana law banning any use of the TikTok social network within the state was preliminarily enjoined from taking effect, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen filed a notice informing the Montana federal court that he was appealing the ruling to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
January 03, 2024
Amici Ask Supreme Court To Uphold Delegation Clause In Arbitration Agreement

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce headed up a diverse coalition of organizations on the third of three amicus curiae briefs filed in support of Coinbase Inc. as the U.S. Supreme Court decides the priority and enforceability of a delegation clause when deciding the arbitrability of claims against the cryptocurrency firm.
January 02, 2024
Federal Judge Finds Crypto Firm Sold Coins As Unregistered Securities

NEW YORK — Weeks before a trial is set to begin, a federal judge in New York partially granted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s motion for summary judgment against cryptocurrency firm Terraform Labs Pte. Ltd. and its CEO, finding that there is no dispute that the firm’s crypto assets were sold as unregistered securities.
December 22, 2023
Amici Brief High Court On Platforms’, Users’ Rights In Social Media Coercion Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the heels of the federal government filing its opening merits brief in a dispute over whether social media platforms’ content moderation decisions were made as state actors, amicus curiae briefs supporting neither party were filed Dec. 21 by a think tank, civil liberties groups, trade associations and research organizations, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to not lose focus on the rights of internet platform operators and their users under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, even though they are not specifically represented in the lawsuit.
December 22, 2023
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Minor’s Suit Against Roblox Due To No Controversy

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Dec. 21 affirmed the dismissal of a minor’s putative class action against video game company Roblox Corp. for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) based on its handling of minors’ request for refunds of “Robux,” its in-game currency, finding that he presented no evidence that he requested a refund or was denied one by Roblox.
December 21, 2023
Binance, CEO Say Guilty Pleas Do Not Negate Motion To Dismiss SEC Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Securities and Exchange Commission fails to show in a notice of supplemental authority how recent guilty pleas from a cryptocurrency platform and its founder on criminal money laundering charges are relevant to the commission’s civil case against them, the firm and its chief executive officer say in response to the SEC’s notice.
December 20, 2023
FTC Places 5-Year Ban On Rite Aid Using AI Facial Recognition Software

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rite Aid Corp.’s artificial intelligence facial recognition software generated thousands of false matches, often targeting women or people of color, the Federal Trade Commission said Dec. 19 in announcing that it was imposing a five-year ban on the retailer’s use of the technology.
December 19, 2023
Notice Of $25M Settlement Over Apple Family Sharing Distributed To Class Members

LOS ANGELES — Notice of a $25 million settlement was recently distributed to putative class members who subscribed to Apple Inc.’s “Family Sharing” service after a California state court judge granted preliminary approval to the payment to settle claims that Apple violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other statutes by misrepresenting the terms of Family Sharing.
December 15, 2023
Social Media Firms Seek Interlocutory Appeal In Adolescent Addiction MDL

OAKLAND, Calif. — A month after the operators of several of the largest social media platforms were only partly successful in obtaining dismissal of a product liability multidistrict ligation (MDL) over the purported addictive qualities of their platforms for adolescents, the defendants filed a motion in California federal court seeking certification of the dismissal ruling for the purpose of filing an interlocutory appeal to have the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals address the case’s “novel questions of law,” notably “the applicability of products liability torts to the digital world.”