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

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

November 19, 2024
DOJ Seeks To Participate In High Court Argument For Texas Age-Based Online Porn Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar on Nov. 18 filed a motion in the U.S. Supreme Court to participate in oral argument in a case in which Free Speech Coalition Inc. (FSC), a nonprofit adult industry trade association, along with adult entertainment industry petitioners, urge reversal of a ruling by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that vacated an injunction for a Texas law (HB 1181) requiring the operators of pornographic websites to verify that their visitors are adults.
November 19, 2024
Judge Tosses Patent Suit Against Google Over Ineligible HVAC Claims

OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California on Nov. 18 granted Google LLC’s motion to dismiss a patent infringement suit brought against it by a technology company over smart thermostat technology, holding that the company’s patent is directed at unpatentable abstract ideas.
November 18, 2024
High Court Won’t Decide If Agency Can Waive Immunity Statewide In Google Suit

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In its Nov. 18 order list, the U.S. Supreme Court denied without comment a petition for certiorari in which the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SCDPRT) insisted that the state’s attorney general could not waive sovereign immunity on behalf of other state agencies in discovery matters.
November 18, 2024
Panel Reverses Dismissal Of State’s Data Breach UCL Claim, Citing Discovery Rule

SAN DIEGO — A California appellate panel addressing a question of first impression on Nov. 15 reversed a trial court’s ruling in favor of Experian Data Corp. barring claims brought by the San Diego District Attorney’s Office accusing Experian of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by failing to protect more than 400,000 California customers whose data was hacked, writing that the state adequately alleged that its UCL claim accrued within the statute of limitations period.
November 18, 2024
Judge Grants Apple’s Dismissal Motion In Suit Against Israeli Tech Companies

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted Apple Inc.’s voluntary motion for dismissal and motions to seal in Apple’s suit accusing Israeli technology companies NSO Group Technologies Ltd. and Q Cyber Technologies Ltd. (collectively, NSO) of violating federal and California law by allegedly developing malware to hack into Apple’s servers.
November 18, 2024
Epic Urges Court To Deny Apple’s Bid For Relief From Injunction In Antitrust Row

OAKLAND, Calif. — Epic Games Inc. filed a brief in California federal court in its antitrust suit against Apple Inc., urging the court to reject Apple’s motion to limit or vacate an injunction requiring it to permit app developers to inform users of methods of making in-app purchases (IAPs) outside of the App Store.
November 15, 2024
Gamers Bring Class Suit Against Developers For Online Racing Game’s Shutdown

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Two video game players filed a putative class action lawsuit in California federal court accusing developers of an online racing video game known as The Crew of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by shutting down servers to the game, thereby terminating players’ access to the game permanently, which they compare in their suit to a manufacturer coming “into your home” and removing a product you previously paid for.
November 14, 2024
Judge Issues Preliminary Injunction Targeting Online Patent Infringers

MIAMI — A company that owns a collection of health and beauty patents saw a Florida federal judge shut down the websites and freeze the assets of parties selling counterfeit, infringing products online as the judge granted the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction.
November 14, 2024
Judge Denies Judgment In FTC Antitrust Suit Against Meta, Cites ‘Legal Jousting’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A District of Columbia federal judge on Nov. 13 mostly denied motions for summary judgment filed by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) and the Federal Trade Commission in the commission’s antitrust lawsuit against Meta, finding that despite the parties’ “impressive” “legal jousting,” “[t]his case must go to trial.”
November 14, 2024
6th Circuit: Man’s Reverse Domain-Hijacking Claims Against FedEx Fail

CINCINNATI — A federal judge in Tennessee committed no error when dismissing a Bulgarian citizen’s trademark infringement action against Federal Express Corp. (FedEx), saying that the man failed to plead facts necessary to support his “reverse domain-name hijacking claim,” the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held, saying that the man’s arguments fail because one of his “gripe” websites critical of FedEx was never taken down.
November 14, 2024
Google Play Gift Card Scam Victim Says Discovery Should Continue Pending Amendment

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A putative class action plaintiff accusing Google LLC and affiliated companies of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by failing to protect consumers from Google Play gift card scammers, whose complaint was recently dismissed with leave to amend, filed a brief in California federal court opposing the court’s reconsideration of a stay of discovery while she prepares an amended complaint.
November 13, 2024
Objector Appeals After New York Times Auto-Renewal Class Settlement OK’d

NEW YORK — A class member who objected to a $2,375,000 settlement to be paid by The New York Times Co. to end a class complaint accusing the newspaper publisher of engaging in an illegal “automatic renewal” scheme filed a notice of appeal four weeks after final settlement approval was granted by a federal judge in New York.
November 13, 2024
Live Nation, Ticketmaster Seek Rehearing After 9th Circuit’s Arbitration Ruling

PASADENA, Calif. — Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC filed a petition for panel rehearing and/or rehearing en banc on Nov. 12 after a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a trial court’s denial of arbitration in a putative class complaint accusing the two companies of engaging in anticompetitive practices in online ticket sales.
November 11, 2024
Judge: No Stay In Patent Dispute Over Hotel Room Key Smart Phone App

MARSHALL, Texas — A federal judge in Texas on Nov. 8 denied a defendant hotel chain company’s motion to stay a patent infringement case involving room key technology while a Virginia federal judge considers a related patent infringement case, holding that most applicable factors weigh against granting the stay.
November 11, 2024
Insured Asks 4th Circuit To Reconsider No Coverage Ruling For Cryptocurrency Loss

RICHMOND, Va. — An insured filed a petition seeking a rehearing or rehearing en banc of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmation of a lower court’s dismissal of his breach of contract lawsuit seeking homeowners insurance coverage for his alleged $170,000 cryptocurrency loss, challenging the courts’ findings that the loss of cryptocurrency is not a “direct physical loss” to trigger policy coverage.
November 08, 2024
Judge Tosses Liability Claims Against Zuckerberg In Social Media Addiction MDL

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal judge on Nov. 7 granted Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s motion to dismiss the corporate officer liability claims against him in a product liability multidistrict ligation over the purported addictive qualities for adolescents regarding several of the largest social media platforms, finding that the plaintiffs failed to sufficiently “allege that Zuckerberg directed the suppression of material information” at issue in this case regarding the negative impact of social media use among younger users.
November 08, 2024
Judge Consolidates Air Travelers’ Suits Against CrowdStrike For Outages

AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas federal judge appointed interim lead counsel and consolidated two putative class complaints accusing tech company CrowdStrike Inc. of causing travelers to experience significant air travel delays by failing to properly test its cybersecurity software before issuing an update that allegedly caused 8.5 million computers and devices to go offline.
November 07, 2024
Medical Company Can’t Get Defendant’s Ankle Monitor Data In Trademark Dispute

NEW YORK — A federal magistrate judge in New York said that a plaintiff pharmaceutical company in a trademark counterfeiting dispute is not entitled to have ankle monitor data from a defendant who was convicted of federal fraud counts, holding that granting the request would allow a non-government agency years of surveillance data, which would amount to a massive violation of the man’s constitutional rights.
November 07, 2024
5th Circuit: Officer’s Claims Over Suspension After Facebook Posts Were Untimely

NEW ORLEANS — A police officer who sued four police chiefs and the city that employed him alleging that his suspension over Facebook posts constituted First Amendment violations under 42 U.S. Code Section 1983 failed to show that the clock on his claims was stalled while he challenged his suspension or that the applicable one-year prescriptive period was interrupted by two state court petitions, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled, affirming a trial court’s judgment.
November 06, 2024
Meta’s Advertising Fraud Dispute Distributed For Conference In Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 6 distributed for conference a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Meta Platforms Inc. seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming the certification of a damages class in a suit alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment related to Meta’s online advertising services.
November 06, 2024
AI Company Opposes Bid For Summary Judgment In Sci Fi-Based Name Battle

NEW YORK — Defendants asked a federal judge in New York for leave to file a motion for summary judgment in a trademark infringement case, saying their health care-based product is nothing like the plaintiff’s artificial intelligence and specialized microchip company. But in a motion to strike, the plaintiff said potential confusion among consumers is a fact-intensive analysis and that the court should strike the defendants’ pre-motion letter and deny the relief.
November 05, 2024
Federal Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment, Recusal Denial In Tech Patent Cases

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a pair of opinions, a panel of judges in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed both a California federal judge’s entries of summary judgments of noninfringement in a set of related cases brought by a patent owner that accused multiple companies of infringing on a patent related to the automatic uploading of photos and the judge’s later order denying the patent owner’s motion for the judge’s recusal.
November 04, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Trademark Claims From Search Engine Operator

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 4 said it will not consider whether the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to affirm a Colorado federal judge’s rejection of arguments that Bank of America Corp. (BofA) infringed on an unregistered trademark related to the name “Erica” in relation to computer applications.
November 01, 2024
High Court Sets Oral Argument Date In Row Over Texas Age-Based Online Porn Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 31 set for argument a case in which Free Speech Coalition Inc. (FSC), a nonprofit adult industry trade association, along with adult entertainment industry petitioners, urge reversal of a ruling by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that vacated an injunction of a Texas law requiring the operators of pornographic websites to verify that their visitors are adults, which the petitioners say “imposes a content-based burden on adults’ access to constitutionally protected speech.”
October 31, 2024
9th Circuit: No Fees For Defendant Who Settled Adult Film Copyright Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with a California federal judge’s decision to deny attorney fees to a John Doe defendant who settled with a prodigiously litigious adult film company that accused Doe of copyright violations, but the panel disagreed as to why Doe was not due fees.