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

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

March 13, 2025
Facebook Swimsuit-Photo App Loses Appeal Of Anti-SLAPP And Attorney Fees Rulings

SAN FRANCISCO — A California appellate panel on March 12 affirmed an order striking claims against Facebook Inc., CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other employees for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by restricting the developer of an app that searched Facebook for photos of people wearing swimsuits from accessing user data and affirmed a roughly $683,000 attorney fee award against the developer.
March 13, 2025
4th Circuit Affirms Issuance Of Injunction In Electronic Health Records Dispute

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 12 affirmed a lower court order granting a preliminary injunction to a health analytics company alleging tortious interference against an electronic health records (EHR) company the analytics company says restricted its access to electronic health records of nursing home residents to monitor their health trends, finding that the analytics company has shown “a sufficient likelihood of the success on the merits.”
March 13, 2025
GoDaddy’s Deadline Extended For Response To Motion To Appeal Settlement Ruling

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama on March 12 set April 3 deadlines for a response from GoDaddy.com LLC to a motion by class representatives to certify for appeal a February order declining enforcement of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class settlement and for a response from class representatives to GoDaddy’s motion to dismiss claims by a deceased class representative; that order was filed one day after the judge declined to reconsider the February decision and directed GoDaddy to respond to the motion to certify the order for appeal.
March 13, 2025
Crypto Companies Seek Interpretation Of CEA Venue, Nationwide Service Provisions

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two cryptocurrency companies filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court in a suit brought against them by an investor alleging that they conspired to deflate the value of a crypto asset, asking the court to determine whether the paired venue and nationwide service provisions of the Commodities Exchange Act (CEA) should be interpreted independently or as a whole.
March 12, 2025
Partial Dismissal Granted In Dispute Over Stock Prediction Software Licensing

BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge partially dismissed a software developer’s suit accusing an options traders’ advisory service of breach of contract for alleged misappropriation of stock trend prediction software obtained through a licensing agreement with the developer, finding in part that the developer failed to allege that the software was marked confidential.
March 11, 2025
High Court Review Sought Of Ruling Reversing Dismissal Of Online Speech Claim

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Members of the Texas State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that reversed and remanded with instructions to enter judgment in a veterinarian’s favor after a district court entered judgment for the board in the veterinarian’s suit alleging that the board unconstitutionally regulated his speech in disciplining him for his web-based veterinary practice.
March 11, 2025
4th Circuit Affirms Ruling Dismissing Facebook Housing Ads Age Discrimination Suit

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that dismissed a suit filed by a woman against a group of property management companies over online advertisements on Facebook that purportedly discriminated on the basis of age, agreeing with the lower court that the woman lacks standing to sue.
March 10, 2025
DOJ Revised Summary In Antitrust Suit Affirms Bid For Google’s Chrome Divesting

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a suit in which a federal judge determined that Google LLC violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and officials from numerous states on March 7 filed an executive summary of a revised proposed final judgment in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that reaffirms the initial proposed final judgment requiring Google to divest web browser Chrome.
March 10, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Consider If Copyrights Affected By Contract Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 10 decided that it would not hear a software company’s argument that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of a $1.6 billion award in a contract dispute with International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) would lead to ripple effects regarding the use of copyrighted software.
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 04, 2025
COMMENTARY: Sustainability Recalibration: What Insurers And Policyholders Should Know About ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance Considerations) Under Trump 2.0, Part 1

By Scott M. Seaman
February 25, 2025
COMMENTARY: AI Risk: New Tech, Same Coverage

By Michael S. Levine, Alex D. Pappas and Torrye N. Zullo
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.”