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Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

  • March 07, 2025

    Photo Uploading Patent Holder Tells High Court Recusal Necessary

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel was wrong to uphold a federal judge’s denial of a patent owner’s recusal motion in an infringement dispute with Fitbit LLC and multiple other entities, the patent owner tells the U.S. Supreme Court in a petition for certiorari; the patent owner argues that the judge and her spouse’s alleged economic connections to Google LLC, a party to the suit, make recusal necessary.

  • March 07, 2025

    Trump Issues Executive Order Establishing Digital Asset Stockpile, Bitcoin Reserve

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump on March 6 issued an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve as well as a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile “that can serve as a secure account for orderly and strategic management of the United States’ other digital asset holdings.” 

  • March 06, 2025

    Suits Consolidated Against Microsoft For ‘Stealing’ Affiliate Link Benefits

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge consolidated nine putative class actions against Microsoft Corp. brought by app operators and online content creator that earn money from online marketing and claim that Microsoft’s in-browser shopping extension “systematically steals commission payments from their rightful owners.”

  • March 06, 2025

    Dismissal Granted In Patent Infringement Case Absent Web-Based Jurisdiction

    CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on March 5 granted a defendant’s dismissal motion in a patent infringement case regarding a patent for a retractable water bottle, finding that the patent holder failed to establish personal jurisdiction over the defendant because the defendant’s maintaining an online marketplace that Illinois consumers can access does not suffice to establish jurisdiction.

  • March 05, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms Mixed IPR Findings On Gesture-Related Tech Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In two opinions, a panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 4 affirmed findings from the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which held that most challenged claims in a company’s patent related to gesture-related inputs from users are invalid as obvious.

  • March 05, 2025

    Judge Tosses Sex Trafficking Suit Against Meta Alleging Financial Benefit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted a motion filed by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) in a sex trafficking victim’s suit alleging in part that Meta financially benefited from sex trafficking, finding that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) bars liability.

  • March 04, 2025

    Parties Seek Dismissal Of Data Breach Coverage Suit Following Settlement

    SEATTLE — A media tech insurer and its financial services firm insured filed a joint stipulation asking a Washington federal court to dismiss with prejudice the insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the insured for a bank’s indemnification demand for a data breach incident and a related subrogation lawsuit brought by the bank’s insurer.

  • March 04, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Monopoly Claims Against Apple Over iCloud Storage

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted Apple Inc.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action in which consumers accuse it of monopolizing access to its iCloud data storage service on Apple devices in violation of federal and state antitrust laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL), finding the plaintiffs did not sufficiently allege a violation of federal law, a monopoly or unfair conduct.

  • March 04, 2025

    3rd Circuit Says Lower Court Didn’t Err In Dismissing Deepfake Suit By Cheer Mom

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 3 affirmed in part a Pennsylvania federal court’s ruling dismissing a suit filed by a mother of a cheerleader alleging that the mother was wrongfully accused of creating deepfakes regarding her anonymous text messages to parents and gym owners accusing other cheerleaders of various offenses, resulting in public officials making alleged defamatory statements about her, finding that the lower court “did not err in dismissing” the mother’s complaint without prejudice.

  • March 04, 2025

    High Court Won’t Hear Arguments From Google Accuser On Patent Infringement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 rejected a petition for a writ of certiorari from a tech company that a partly split panel in the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in affirming a federal judge’s summary judgments against the company and in favor of Google LLC, which it accused of infringing on seven of its patents.

  • March 04, 2025

    U.S. High Court Denies Petition In Police Officer’s Social Media, Suspension Case

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 3 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a police officer who raised tolling and grievance questions after a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the officer, in 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.

  • March 03, 2025

    New York Nonprofit Groups Sue USDA Over Climate Change Website Content ‘Purge’

    FOLEY SQUARE, N.Y. — Several New York nonprofit organizations sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the “unlawful purge” of climate-related content from its websites, citing violations of the Paperwork Reduction, Administrative Procedure and Freedom of Information acts.

  • February 28, 2025

    Magistrate Recommends Granting Judgment In Libel Row Over LinkedIn ‘Doo-Doo’ Post

    NEW YORK — A New York federal magistrate judge recommended granting summary judgment to the defendant, a former officer in a company once owned by the plaintiff, a founder of a venture capital company, in a libel suit over the defendant’s posts on LinkedIn that purportedly gave the plaintiff the surname of “Doo-Doo head” and accused him of lack of knowledge about artificial intelligence, finding that the comment regarding AI “is non-actionable opinion.”

  • February 28, 2025

    Judge Adopts Recommendation To Dismiss ‘Pig Butchering’ Complaint Against Binance

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge adopted a magistrate judge’s report and recommendation to dismiss a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) suit against Binance Holdings Limited for its alleged role in a “pig butchering” “fraud scheme” that resulted in at least one of the plaintiffs losing more than $2.7 million in a cryptocurrency investment, finding in part that the plaintiffs failed to establish a “relationship between the stolen cryptocurrency and putative money laundering.”

  • February 28, 2025

    Federal Circuit Affirms IPR Finding In Netflix’s Favor On Streaming Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Feb. 27 rejected an appellant’s argument that the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was wrong to rule in favor of Netflix Inc; according to the panel, there was no error in the board’s analysis of the claims in the appellant’s patent that led it to find that all challenged claims in the patent are invalid as obvious.

  • February 28, 2025

    Record Labels Seek Rehearing In Copyright Row With Vimeo Before 2nd Circuit

    NEW YORK — A group of record labels asked the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to reconsider its finding that the labels failed to show that video sharing website Vimeo Inc. had “red flag” knowledge that user-uploaded videos contained copyrighted musical recordings, arguing in a petition for panel rehearing that the decision was in part undergirded by an erroneous reading of the labels’ argument.

  • February 26, 2025

    Class Certification Denied In Moderator Suit Against TikTok For Lack Of Standing

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion for class certification in a putative class action regarding the alleged negligence by TikTok Inc. and its parent company in failing to protect content moderators from harm, finding in part that the plaintiff, a former TikTok moderator, lacks standing for failure to provide evidence showing that “no monitor would remain in the job long enough to pursue a class action.”

  • February 25, 2025

    Judge Partially Dismisses Claims In UCL Class Suit Over App Cyberbullying

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge partially dismissed a putative class suit against YOLO, a company that designed an anonymous messaging app that allegedly failed to monitor content, purportedly resulting in cyberbullying and the death of one user, finding that the motion to dismiss for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) is granted due to the plaintiffs’ failure to show that they have an inadequate remedy at law.

  • February 24, 2025

    U.S. High Court Denies Rehearing To Broadband Providers In New York Rate Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 24 denied a petition for rehearing after its denial of a writ of certiorari filed by New York State Telecommunications Association and broadband providers.

  • February 21, 2025

    Amended Complaint Filed Against OPM, Health Agencies, Over Removal Of Webpages

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Doctors for America and the city and county of San Francisco filed an amended complaint in a District of Columbia federal court accusing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of exceeding its authority in directing government health agencies, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to remove webpages containing “a broad range of health-related data” in response to President Donald J. Trump’s executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

  • February 20, 2025

    Judge Tosses Sex Trafficking Case, Rejects Internet Traffic Monitoring Argument

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed with leave to amend a suit against franchisors and their parent company and franchisees, accusing them of sex trafficking under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA), finding that though the plaintiff, the mother of a trafficking victim, alleged liability under the TVPRA due to the parent company’s ability to monitor motel guests internet access, the plaintiff did not establish that the parent company and the franchisors owed a duty of care to the victim.

  • February 20, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Ruling Dismissing Sex Trafficking Suit Against Grindr

    PASADENA, Calif. — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling dismissing with prejudice a negligence, product liability and federal sex trafficking suit against Grindr Inc. and Grindr LLC, the operators of the Grindr app, alleging that they are liable for injuries the plaintiff sustained as an underaged user of the app, finding that the lower court correctly dismissed the claims as barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

  • February 19, 2025

    Media Tech Insurer, Financial Services Firm Settle Data Breach Coverage Dispute

    SEATTLE — A media tech insurer that filed suit and its financial services firm insured filed a notice in a Washington federal court indicating they have settled the insurer’s lawsuit seeking a declaration that it has no duty to defend or indemnify the insured for a bank’s indemnification demand for a data breach incident and a related subrogation lawsuit brought by the bank’s insurer.

  • February 14, 2025

    Magistrate Sustains Some Deposition Objections In Social Media Addiction MDL

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge sustained some objections in a product liability multidistrict ligation over the purported addictive qualities for adolescents of several of the largest social media platforms, finding that certain deposition topics related to the “factual basis” for the plaintiff states’ beliefs “are contention deposition topics” and not appropriate for the MDL.

  • January 22, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Relying On Loper Bright’s Elimination Of Chevron Deference, Sixth Circuit Reverses FCC And Holds That Internet Service Is An Information Service Under The Communications Act

    By Alan Galloway, Hannah Donahue and John D. Seiver