Socially Aware

January 20, 2021 - Contracts, Terms of Use

Role Reversal: Ninth Circuit Rejects Consumer’s Attempt to Enforce Updated Arbitration Provision in Website Terms of Use

By: Aaron P. Rubin

In Stover v. Experian Holdings, the Ninth Circuit decided an issue of first impression for the circuit, holding that a party’s single visit to a website four years after her original visit—when she agreed to an online contract containing a change-of-terms provision—is not enough …›

June 23, 2020 - Arbitration, Litigation, Online Contracts, Terms of Use

Sweating the Details: Court Analyzes User Interface to Uphold Online Arbitration Clause

By: Aaron P. Rubin

Online service providers typically seek to mitigate risk by including arbitration clauses in their user agreements. In order for such agreements to be effective, however, they must be implemented properly. Babcock vs. Neutron Holdings, Inc., a recent Southern District of Florida case involving a …›

June 1, 2020 - Contracts, Online Contracts, Terms of Use

Court Discovers Rare and Elusive “Enforceable Browsewrap”

By: Aaron P. Rubin

As we have noted many times in prior articles, courts often refuse to enforce “browsewrap” agreements where terms are presented to users merely by including a link on a page or screen without requiring affirmative acceptance. Courts typically look more favorably on “clickwrap” agreements …›

May 4, 2020 - Copyright, Litigation, Terms of Use

S.D.N.Y.: Public Display of Embedded Instagram Photo Does Not Infringe Copyright

By: Aaron P. Rubin

A federal district court in New York held that a photographer failed to state a claim against digital-media website Mashable for copyright infringement of a photo that Mashable embedded on its website by using Instagram’s application programming interface (API). The decision turned on Instagram’s …›

December 20, 2019 - COPPA, Copyright, Ephemeral Messaging, Terms of Use, User-Generated Content, Web Scraping

2019: Our Greatest Hits

Here at Socially Aware we covered a wide range of issues in 2019. We reviewed an opinion reminding us that user-generated content posted on social media platforms is not necessarily freely available for use in other contexts, and a rare instance of a federal …›

November 4, 2019 - Litigation, Online Contracts, Terms of Use

Just Browsing: District Court Finds Browsewrap Agreement Enforceable

By: Anthony M. Ramirez and Katherine Marie DeVries

Courts continue to grapple with the enforceability of online agreements. While courts generally enforce clickwrap agreements—online agreements where users affirmatively show their acceptance after being presented with the terms, usually by clicking “I agree”—browsewrap agreements have stood on shakier enforceability grounds. Browsewrap agreements are …›

July 22, 2019 - Arbitration, Litigation, Terms of Use

Court Holds that Arbitration Clause in “Hybridwrap” Terms Is Unenforceable

By: Aaron P. Rubin

A federal district court in Illinois recently held in Anand v. Heath that a digital marketing company could not force a user to arbitrate because a “Continue” button on its website did not provide clear notice that clicking the button constituted assent to the …›