Socially Aware

July 31, 2023 - Section 230 Safe Harbor, Trademark
WallStreetBets Founder Loses Trademark Suit Against Reddit
By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney
In Jaime Rogozinski v. Reddit Inc , U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney for the Northern District of California dismissed WALLSTREETBETS Reddit community founder Jamie Rogozinski’s claims against Reddit for trademark infringement and dilution as well as various state law claims. Rogozinski established WALLSTREETBETS
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July 28, 2023 - Contracts, Digital Content
Be Careful What You Click for: A Canadian Court Rules that a Thumbs-Up Emoji Indicates a Binding Contractual Agreement
By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney
In this age of social media and texting, we use a plethora of shorthand visual and typographic icons to express a range of responses or reactions to posts or texts: a heart to indicate love, a laughing face or an “LOL” to indicate humor,
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July 25, 2023 - Artificial Intelligence
AI Leaders Commit to White House Supported Guidelines
By: Tessa J. Schwartz
In coordination with the White House , several leaders in the artificial intelligence (AI) space have publicly committed to a voluntary set of guidelines relating to responsible development and deployment of AI. Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI made immediate public commitments
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July 21, 2023 - Social Media Policy, Section 230 Safe Harbor
PART 1 - Section 230: 27 Years Old and Still in the Spotlight
By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney
Here at Socially Aware we talk a lot about Section 230, the section of the 1996 Communications Decency Act (CDA) that immunizes social media platforms and other online service providers from liability stemming from content created by their users or other third parties. Sometimes
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June 29, 2023 - Digital Content, Social Media Policy, Influencer Marketing, Online Promotions
Social Links: Social Media Account Ownership Once Again in the Spotlight
By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney
Social media continues to dominate the headlines this spring, with several high-profile events capturing the media’s, regulators’, and lawmakers’ attention. Jack Owoc, founder and former CEO of Bang Energy (“Bang,” a performance energy beverage), claimed that he retained the rights to control Bang’s social
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June 29, 2023 - Artificial Intelligence, Ethics
In the Crosshairs: The Legal Industry Grapples with the Application and Ethics of AI
By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney
In May 2023, Steven Schwartz of Levidow, Levidow & Oberman admitted that he used a generative AI (GAI) platform to produce six non-existent court decisions as citations during his representation in a personal injury case against Avianca Airlines. He has since issued regrets and
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April 26, 2023 - Artificial Intelligence, Data Security
Key Issues in Generative AI Transactions
By: Aaron P. Rubin and Heather M. Whitney
Over the past year, we have seen a dramatic increase in the adoption of AI technologies across industries. Because transactions involving AI technologies can resemble those involving traditional software, like SaaS agreements, parties often assume that their expectations from those standard agreements about what
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April 03, 2023 - Section 230 Safe Harbor, Privacy, Marketing, Online Promotions
Social Links: Section 230 Under Scrutiny (Again) From Lawmakers
By: Aaron P. Rubin, Julie O'Neill, Anthony M. Ramirez and Heather M. Whitney
Section 23o, the “ 26 words that changed the Internet ,” is once again under scrutiny from lawmakers. At the federal level, Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary panel’s subcommittee on privacy, technology, and the law found common ground in their calls to
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March 03, 2023 - Artificial Intelligence, Copyright
Copyright Office Denies Claim to Copyright in Generative AI Images
By: Joseph C. Gratz and Heather M. Whitney
The U.S. Copyright Office has denied an attempt to register copyright in images created using the Midjourney generative AI tool. The reasoning of its decision sharply limits the potential paths to receiving copyright in images created using generative AI tools, even where that output
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February 27, 2023 - IP, Section 230 Safe Harbor
Court Holds That Section 230’s Carve Out for “intellectual Property” Does Not Apply to Publicity Rights Claim in New York
By: Aaron P. Rubin and J. Alexander Lawrence
Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act provides broad immunity to online platforms for claims arising from hosting third-party content (though just how broad is a hot issue that the Supreme Court may decide this term in Gonzalez v. Google LLC ). But
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WallStreetBets Founder Loses Trademark Suit Against Reddit

By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney

Be Careful What You Click for: A Canadian Court Rules that a Thumbs-Up Emoji Indicates a Binding Contractual Agreement

By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney

AI Leaders Commit to White House Supported Guidelines

By: Tessa J. Schwartz

PART 1 - Section 230: 27 Years Old and Still in the Spotlight

By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney

Social Links: Social Media Account Ownership Once Again in the Spotlight

By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney

In the Crosshairs: The Legal Industry Grapples with the Application and Ethics of AI

By: Aaron P. Rubin, Anthony M. Ramirez, Julie O'Neill and Heather M. Whitney

Key Issues in Generative AI Transactions

By: Aaron P. Rubin and Heather M. Whitney

Social Links: Section 230 Under Scrutiny (Again) From Lawmakers

By: Aaron P. Rubin, Julie O'Neill, Anthony M. Ramirez and Heather M. Whitney

Copyright Office Denies Claim to Copyright in Generative AI Images

By: Joseph C. Gratz and Heather M. Whitney

Court Holds That Section 230’s Carve Out for “intellectual Property” Does Not Apply to Publicity Rights Claim in New York

By: Aaron P. Rubin and J. Alexander Lawrence