Last week—the week of May 12, 2013—proved to be an eventful week for Aereo. On May 14, 2013, the controversial broadcast television streaming service filed a motion for summary judgment in the Southern District of New York on copyright claims brought by broadcast television networks (including ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox) that Aereo’s service directly… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Litigation
Subscribe to Litigation RSS FeedE-Commerce Providers Take Note: New York’s Highest Court Upholds “Amazon” Sales Tax Statute
Posted in E-Commerce, LitigationOn March 28, 2013, the Court of Appeals, New York’s highest court, issued a decision in Overstock.com, Inc. & Amazon.com, LLC, et al., holding that New York’s “click-through nexus” statute does not violate the Commerce Clause or the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution. As a result, an Internet vendor may be presumed to have… Continue Reading
Federal Court Says No to “Used” Digital Music Marketplace
Posted in Copyright, LitigationDigital music has come a long way since the era of widespread unauthorized sharing, with digital music sales estimated to be approaching $6 billion worldwide. As this market grows, a natural question is whether there can be a legitimate digital analog to the traditional “used music” market. One company, ReDigi, sought to create such a… Continue Reading
Spoliation of Social Media Evidence: New Jersey Court Cracks Down
Posted in LitigationA March 23, 2013 decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey serves as a cautionary tale for litigants. As a result of some arguably poor decisions by the plaintiff and likely miscommunication between the parties regarding access to the plaintiff’s Facebook account, the Court sanctioned the plaintiff for causing his… Continue Reading
Federal Court in Manhattan “Likes” Service of Process via Facebook
Posted in FTC, LitigationOn March 7, 2013, a federal court in Manhattan ruled, in Federal Trade Commission v. PCCare247 Inc., that service via Facebook is an acceptable alternative means of serving court documents on foreign defendants. Although this is a watershed ruling in many respects, in other ways, it is a natural extension of current authority in a… Continue Reading
Southern District of New York Examines Whether News Clipping Service Qualifies as Fair Use Under Copyright Act
Posted in Copyright, LitigationIt is well settled that Internet search engines’ reproduction of limited portions of copyrighted materials in order to direct Internet users to locations of original content constitutes “fair use” under the Copyright Act. (See, for example, Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc. and Kelly v. Arriba Soft.) But where is the line between, on the one… Continue Reading
Supreme Court Holds That “First Sale” Doctrine Applies to Copies of a Copyrighted Work Lawfully Made Abroad
Posted in Copyright, LitigationThe Supreme Court of the United States issued its much-anticipated decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., holding that the “first sale” doctrine protects a buyer or other lawful owner of a copy of a copyrighted work that was lawfully made abroad, following a lawful first sale. The 6-3 decision resolves a contested… Continue Reading
More Trouble With Work-Related Social Media Accounts
Posted in Litigation, PrivacyWe have written before about cases involving disputes between employers and employees over work-related social media accounts, but a new case out of Arizona federal court raises issues that appear to be unlike those we have addressed previously. In Castle Megastore Group, Inc. v. Wilson, plaintiff Castle Megastore Group (CMG), a retailer of novelty and… Continue Reading
Can Touting Your New Job on Social Media Sites Violate a Non-Solicitation Agreement?
Posted in LitigationAccording to a federal judge in Oklahoma in Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. v. Cahill, simply sharing information about a new job over social media does not mean that you are inviting former co-workers to come join you in violation of a non-solicitation agreement. On February 12, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge James Payne of the… Continue Reading
It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again: Massachusetts Allows Actions for Violation of Privacy Rights Based on Collection of ZIP Codes
Posted in Litigation, PrivacyMassachusetts appears to have followed California’s lead in opening a litigation floodgate over ZIP code collection at the point of sale. In 2011, the California Supreme Court held in Pineda v. Williams-Sonoma Stores, Inc., 246 P.3d 612 (Cal. 2011), that a retailer illegally collects personal identification information (PII) when it requests and records ZIP codes… Continue Reading
A Fistful of Data: Facebook and Profile Technology, Inc. Showdown Over the Right to Use Outdated User Information
Posted in Litigation, PrivacyAs social media matures and users become more concerned about the privacy of the information they publish online, New Zealand-based search engine app company Profile Technology, Inc. and Facebook are engaged in a legal battle stemming from a dispute over the right to use certain user data. The story first came to light in October… Continue Reading
German Court Says Facebook Not Subject to German Law
Posted in LitigationFacebook may be gaining ground in its struggle against German authorities. In a preliminary ruling, the state of Schleswig-Holstein’s Administrative Court has rejected penalties against Facebook Inc. and Facebook Ireland, stating that the social network is not subject to German law. The Schleswig-Holstein state data protection authority (the ULD) started enforcement proceedings against the social… Continue Reading
Thinking About Using Pictures Pulled From Twitter? Think Again, New York Court Warns
Posted in Copyright, DMCA, IP, Litigation, Terms of UseIf you want to use those pictures you found on Twitter, beware. A federal judge in New York recently held that taking photos from Twitter to use for a commercial purpose infringes the photographer’s copyrights. On January 14, 2013, Judge Alison Nathan ruled that Agence France Presse (AFP), which provides subscribers with access to photos… Continue Reading
FTC Announces Important Settlement With Social Networking App and Releases New Mobile App Report
Posted in FTC, Litigation, PrivacyThe Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a potentially groundbreaking settlement with the social networking app Path and released an important new staff report on Mobile Privacy Disclosures late last week. The FTC’s Settlement with Path suggests a new standard may be on the near-term horizon: out-of-policy, just-in-time notice and express consent for the collection of… Continue Reading
You Can’t Make a Square Peg Fit in a Round Hole: California Supreme Court Holds Online Purchases of Electronically Downloadable Products Outside Scope of Song-Beverly Act
Posted in Litigation, PrivacyHanding a victory to online retailers, on February 4, 2013, the California Supreme Court held in a split decision that online transactions involving electronically downloadable products fall outside the scope of the Song-Beverly Credit Card Act (Apple v. Superior Court (Krescent), S199384). Despite acknowledging the unique fraud issues present in online transactions, the Court refused… Continue Reading
Socially Aware Looks Back: The Social Media Law Year in Review
Posted in Employment Law, Litigation, Privacy2012 was a momentous year for social media law. We’ve combed through the court decisions, the legislative initiatives, the regulatory actions and the corporate trends to identify what we believe to be the ten most significant social media law developments of the past year–here they are, in no particular order: Bland v. Roberts – A… Continue Reading
New Issue of the Socially Aware Newsletter Now Available
Posted in Employment Law, FCC, FTC, IP, Litigation, Privacy, Section 230 Safe Harbor, Statistics, Terms of Use, TrademarkIn the latest issue of Socially Aware, our Burton Award-winning guide to the law and business of social media, we look at recent First Amendment, intellectual property, labor and privacy law developments affecting corporate users of social media and the Internet. We also recap major events from 2012 that have had a substantial impact on… Continue Reading
Be Wary of Sharing: Anonymous P2P User’s Motion to Quash Subpoena Denied
Posted in Copyright, IP, Litigation, Privacy, TrademarkBitTorrent, the peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing system that enables the quick downloading of large files, has sparked another novel controversy stemming from copyright-infringement claims brought against its users. Users take advantage of the BitTorrent sharing system to anonymously access popular media such as books and movies. That anonymity is unlikely to last long for users who… Continue Reading
Jailbreak: U.S. Google Executives’ Italian Convictions Overturned
Posted in Litigation, PrivacyOn December 21, 2012, the third Milan appeals court acquitted three U.S.-based Google executives who had previously been convicted for breaches of Italian data protection law after Google failed to remove an abusive video from its Google Video site. The video, which showed schoolboys bullying a child with Down syndrome, remained on the Google Video… Continue Reading
Facebook ’em, Danno: Federal Court May Decide Whether Citizens Have First Amendment Right to Use Social Media to Publicly Criticize the Hawaii 5-0
Posted in LitigationOn top of a presidential election, protests over Instagram’s terms of use, and the invention of gloves that can translate sign language, 2012 also brought to light interesting constitutional issues involving public entities’ use of social media when a citizens’ group filed suit against the City and County of Honolulu for “violations of [the group’s]… Continue Reading
Google AdWords Decision Highlights Contours of the CDA Section 230 Safe Harbor
Posted in IP, Litigation, Section 230 Safe Harbor, TrademarkIn a string of cases against Google, approximately 20 separate plaintiffs have claimed that, through advertisements on its AdWords service, Google engaged in trademark infringement. These claims have been based on Google allowing its advertisers to use their competitors’ trademarks in Google-generated online advertisements. In a recent decision emerging from these cases, CYBERsitter v. Google,… Continue Reading
FCC Rules That Opt-Out Confirmation Text Messages Do Not Violate the TCPA
Posted in FCC, LitigationWaves of class actions have recently alleged that the delivery of an opt-out confirmation text message violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Thus, a Federal Communications Commission (“Commission”) Declaratory Ruling finding that a single opt-out confirmation text does not violate the TCPA comes at a crucial time. The Commission’s decision, issued on November 29,… Continue Reading
PeopleBrowsr Wins Round One Against Twitter
Posted in LitigationThe Superior Court of the State of California has entered a temporary restraining order requiring Twitter to continue to provide PeopleBrowsr with access to the Firehose, Twitter’s complete stream of all public tweets. Through the Firehose, Twitter provides third-party access to over 400 million daily tweets. PeopleBrowsr is a San Francisco-based social media analytics firm… Continue Reading
Which Side Are You On? Employers and Employees Battle Over Ownership of Social Media Accounts
Posted in LitigationWhen an employee uses a social media account to promote his or her company, who keeps that account when the employee leaves? Perhaps more importantly, who keeps the friends, followers and connections associated with that account? Three lawsuits highlight the challenges an employer may face in seeking to gain control of work-related social media accounts… Continue Reading