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

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

October 04, 2024
Federal Judge Grants Attorney Fees To Defendant In FTC Deception Case

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia granted partial attorney fees to one of two men the Federal Trade Commission alleged were involved in deceptively marketing and selling discount club memberships through online landing pages and telemarketing calls.
October 03, 2024
Judge Orders Further Briefing In OnlyFans Unfair Renewals Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Oct. 2 directed putative class plaintiffs accusing an adult entertainment website of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by improperly charging them automatic renewal fees to file an amended complaint modifying their allegations regarding the defendants’ purposeful targeting of California, which the judge will consider before ruling on a motion to dismiss.
October 02, 2024
Judge: No Jurisdiction For Artist’s Class Copyright Claims Against Online Store

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Oct. 1 issued an opinion confirming an August “bottom-line” order dismissing a putative class action complaint brought by an artist alleging that an e-commerce company infringed on his copyrighted work and that of many other artists, holding that the New York federal court does not have personal jurisdiction based in part on customers’ locations.
October 02, 2024
Judge Tosses EPA Suit Against EBay Over CAA Violations, Cites ‘Sell’ Definition

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge dismissed a suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleging that eBay Inc. is in violation of federal environmental laws by selling motor vehicle parts and accessories, pesticides and paint remover products that run afoul of pollution standards and are toxic, finding, in part, that actions by eBay do not comprise an offer to sell because eBay did not actually possess any of the items for sale.
October 02, 2024
Search Engine Users File 3rd Amended Complaint Against Google Over Search Monopoly

SAN JOSE, Calif. — After prior claims against Apple Inc. were dismissed with prejudice, a group of internet search engine users filed a third amended complaint in California federal court, asserting antitrust claims against Google LLC and related parties regarding allegations of general search services monopoly.
October 02, 2024
Epic Games Files Antitrust Suit Against Samsung, Google Over App Blocking Feature

SAN FRANCISCO — Epic Games Inc., the developer of the popular video game Fortnite, on Sept. 30 sued Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Google LLC, alleging antitrust law and California unfair competition law (UCL) violations related to Google’s and Samsung’s alleged cooperation to reduce competition in the app distribution market by agreeing to Samsung’s use of the “auto blocker” default settings on its new phones that would block all user attempts to download and install Android apps from any source competing with the Google Play Store and the Samsung Galaxy Store.
September 30, 2024
Judge Says ‘No Choice’ But To Grant Judgment To Meta In Adult Entertainers Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted summary judgment to Meta Platforms Inc. in a putative class action filed by adult entertainment (AE) performers alleging tortious interference and unfair competition in blacklisting social media posts by most AE providers in favor of the OnlyFans AE platform, finding that despite Meta’s “questionable recordkeeping,” the plaintiffs failed to show that questions remain regarding issues of material fact.
September 27, 2024
Judgment Granted For Walmart In Soldier’s E-Commerce Publicity Act Suit

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on Sept. 26 granted summary judgment to Walmart in a suit filed against it and other e-commerce retailers by a former member of the U.S. Army’s Airborne Infantry who alleged violations of the Illinois Right of Publicity Act and negligent infliction of emotional distress related to his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the defendants’ sale of posters with his combat photo, finding that the claims are time-barred due to the Publicity Act’s one-year statute of limitations.
September 27, 2024
Plaintiff Consents To Hacked Facebook Accounts Suit Being Heard By Magistrate

SAN FRANCISCO — A plaintiff bringing a putative class action against Meta Platforms Inc. in California federal court for breach of contract and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) due to it allegedly allowing “hackers to abscond with hundreds of thousands of Facebook accounts” while barring hacked users from regaining access to their accounts consented to magistrate jurisdiction over the suit on Sept. 26.
September 27, 2024
Judge: Tattoo Artist Did Not Show How Game Makers’ Infringement Caused Damages

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge held that the developers of wrestling video games are not entitled to judgment as a matter of law after a jury determined that they are liable for copyright infringement of a tattoo artist’s work through their depictions in-game of a tattooed wrestling star, but they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on damages because the artist presented no evidence at trial to support the award of damages.
September 26, 2024
Developers Of Video Game Cheat Again Appeal Copyright Case To 9th Circuit

SEATTLE — Only a month after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a Washington federal judge did not err in affirming a nearly $4.4 million arbitration award in a copyright infringement case involving video game cheating software, the case is headed back to the Ninth Circuit as the companies who created the software on Sept. 25 notified the district court that they were appealing the court’s decision to deny their motion for a new trial.
September 25, 2024
DOJ Says Visa Violated Sherman Act In Online And General Purpose Network Services

NEW YORK — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Sept. 24 sued Visa Inc., a company operating “the largest debit network in the United States,” alleging violations of the Sherman Act regarding Visa’s purported monopoly power “in the general purpose debit network services” and online “general purpose card-not-present debit network services markets in the United States with market shares of at least 60% and 65%, respectively, by payment volume.”
September 20, 2024
Settlement Reported In Assault Suit Against Snapchat, Which Claimed CDA Immunity

WATERBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut state court judge stated in an order that a settlement was reported but the case was not withdrawn in a suit filed against Snap Inc., which operates the social media platform Snapchat, by the parents of a minor who was sexually assaulted by two men that she met through the platform, with the social media company claiming immunity from liability for the rapists’ actions under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA).
September 19, 2024
Magistrate, Judge Issue Discovery, Management Orders In Social Media Addiction MDL

OAKLAND, Calif. — One day after a California federal magistrate judge issued a discovery management order in a product liability multidistrict ligation over the purported addictive qualities for adolescents regarding several of the largest social media platforms, a California federal judge on Sept. 18 issued a case management order outlining and expanding on deadlines set at a previous case management conference, including deadlines for the close of fact discovery and completion of document discovery.
September 19, 2024
Split 9th Circuit Panel Rules That Uber Had Duty Of Care Toward Its Murdered Driver

SAN FRANCISCO — A split panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a grant of summary judgment by a Washington federal court in favor of a rideshare company in a lawsuit by the estate and survivors of one its drivers stemming from the driver’s murder during a carjacking attempt perpetrated by two people who had signed up for the company’s services with false personal information and a prepaid phone and gift card minutes before being matched with the driver.
September 19, 2024
Va. Federal Judge: Lost Profits Expert Can Testify In Suit Alleging Defamation

RICHMOND, Va. — An expert retained to opine on an insurance claim adjustment company’s economic loss after allegedly defaming statements were made to its customers by an online payment company can testify, a Virginia federal judge ruled.
September 19, 2024
Failure To Allege NFL Prerecorded Videos Were Viewed Deemed ‘Fatal’ To VPPA Claim

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York dismissed a putative class complaint accusing the National Football League of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by sharing personal data about users of the NFL’s website, mobile application and video service with a third party, opining that the lead plaintiff’s failure to allege that prerecorded videos were viewed was “fatal” to the complaint.
September 18, 2024
Judge Denies Meta’s Dismissal Bid In Class Suit Over Facial Recognition Software

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill.— An Illinois federal judge on Sept. 17 denied a dismissal motion filed by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) in a putative class action suit alleging violations of a state privacy law regarding Meta’s collecting biometric information using facial recognition software through its Facebook messenger and messenger kids applications, finding that Meta did not “overcome the presumption against preemption” by federal law and did not show that the complaint failed to allege that Meta collected and possessed biometric data.
September 17, 2024
Petitioners To High Court: 5th Circuit Erred In Review Of Texas Porn Age Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Adult entertainment industry petitioners and their nonprofit trade association on Sept. 16 filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of their argument that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in applying a “rational-basis review rather than strict scrutiny” to a Texas law that requires the operators of pornographic websites to verify that their visitors are adults, which the petitioners argue “imposes a content-based burden on adults’ access to constitutionally protected speech.”
September 17, 2024
Yelp Agrees To Magistrate Oversight In Stolen Info Antitrust Suit Against Google

SAN FRANCISCO — Internet search platform Yelp Inc. consented to jurisdiction by a federal magistrate judge over further proceedings in its California federal court suit against multinational search engine tech company Google LLC asserting antitrust violations pursuant to the Sherman Act regarding Google’s alleged “numerous anti-competitive practices, including stealing information from Yelp’s website and passing it off as Google’s own.”
September 17, 2024
23andMe Asks MDL Judge To Approve $30M Data Breach Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — Genetic data company 23andMe Inc. filed a brief urging the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to grant preliminary approval to a $30 million settlement to resolve claims in a multidistrict litigation brought by plaintiffs whose genetic data on 23andMe’s website was hacked and offered for sale online and asking the court to enjoin separate litigation and arbitrations brought against it for the breach that it says could “jeopardize . . . the Settlement.”
September 16, 2024
Judge: Trump Liable For Infringing Use Of ‘Electric Avenue’ In Campaign Video

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Sept. 13 granted singer Eddy Grant’s partial motion for partial summary judgment against former President Donald J. Trump and his re-election campaign, holding that the singer adequately showed that Trump’s use of Grant’s song “Electric Avenue” in a video on Twitter does not constitute fair use; the judge also denied a motion for partial summary judgment from the Trump team.
September 16, 2024
Panel Says Suit Against Crypto Exchange For False Security Claims Not Arbitrable

SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate panel affirmed a trial court’s denial of a cryptocurrency exchange’s petition to compel arbitration of claims that it misrepresented the security of its platform in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws, finding that the plaintiffs’ claims are inarbitrable because they seek public injunctive relief, thereby affirming the opposite conclusion of that reached by a federal judge hearing similar claims brought by some of the same plaintiffs.
September 13, 2024
Judge Dismisses Patent Infringement Claims Against Hulu Over Ad Stream Technology

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge dismissed a suit filed by a media company against streaming service Hulu, alleging patent infringement regarding patents relating to integrating advertising into digital media streams, finding that “[t]he claims are patent ineligible” because they “do not contain an inventive concept.”
September 13, 2024
Magistrate Judge Won’t Dismiss UCL Suit Over ‘Sunset’ Of Payroll Software

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge on Sept. 12 denied a software provider’s motion to dismiss a suit against it for breach of contract and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), brought by a payroll company that alleges that it unlawfully lost access to payroll software and searchable client data contained therein after paying licensing fees for more than 20 years.