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

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

October 09, 2024
NCAA, Conferences’ NIL Agreement With Student-Athletes Preliminarily Approved

OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted preliminary approval to an amended settlement agreement in a lawsuit by college athletes who have accused the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and five conferences of violating the Sherman Act by restricting compensation for the commercial use of their names, images and likenesses; the student-athletes report that the revisions to the NCAA rules will result in an estimated “$20 billion more flowing to student-athletes over the next ten years.”
October 09, 2024
California Brings Consumer Protection Suit Against TikTok For Harming Youth

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The California Attorney General’s Office on Oct. 8 filed a lawsuit in state court accusing the owners and operators of the TikTok social media app of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and false advertising law (FAL) by intentionally targeting children, including those younger than 13, with addictive features and illegally collecting their data. Similar consumer protection suits were recently filed in more than a dozen other states.
October 09, 2024
2nd Circuit: Keyword Search Ads Based On Trademarks Not Infringing

NEW YORK — Affirming a New York federal judge’s entry of judgment on the pleadings in a trademark dispute between competing eyewear brands, the Second Circuit U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Oct. 8 said that “the mere act of purchasing a search engine keyword that is a competitor’s trademark does not alone, in the context of keyword search advertising, constitute trademark infringement.”
October 08, 2024
3-Year Injunction Issued Against Google In Antitrust Dispute With Epic Games

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Oct. 7 issued a three-year permanent injunction against Google 10 months after a jury entered a verdict in favor or Epic Games Inc. in its antitrust dispute with Google LLC over the Android app market and the Google Play Store, finding that “[r]equiring Google to allow other app stores to be distributed through the Play Store for a discrete period is a modest step to correct the consequence of unlawfully preventing rival stores from reaching users and developers.”
October 07, 2024
Judge Grants Injunction: Calif. AI Election Law Acts As ‘Hammer Instead Of Scalpel’

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Recently enacted California legislation imposing potential civil penalties for manipulated and deceptive artificial intelligence-generated election materials acts more like a “hammer instead of a scalpel” and likely violates constitutional speech protections, a federal judge in California said in enjoining the law.
October 07, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Cert In Trump Twitter Warrant 1st Amendment Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 7 denied certiorari to X Corp. (formerly known as Twitter Inc.) in its bid seeking of review whether a warrant obtained by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to search former President Donald J. Trump’s Twitter account and an accompanying nondisclosure order (NDO) violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Stored Communications Act (SCA).
October 04, 2024
Federal Judge Grants Attorney Fees To Defendant In FTC Deception Case

ATLANTA — A federal judge in Georgia granted partial attorney fees to one of two men the Federal Trade Commission alleged were involved in deceptively marketing and selling discount club memberships through online landing pages and telemarketing calls.
October 03, 2024
Judge Orders Further Briefing In OnlyFans Unfair Renewals Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Oct. 2 directed putative class plaintiffs accusing an adult entertainment website of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by improperly charging them automatic renewal fees to file an amended complaint modifying their allegations regarding the defendants’ purposeful targeting of California, which the judge will consider before ruling on a motion to dismiss.
October 02, 2024
Judge: No Jurisdiction For Artist’s Class Copyright Claims Against Online Store

NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on Oct. 1 issued an opinion confirming an August “bottom-line” order dismissing a putative class action complaint brought by an artist alleging that an e-commerce company infringed on his copyrighted work and that of many other artists, holding that the New York federal court does not have personal jurisdiction based in part on customers’ locations.
October 02, 2024
Judge Tosses EPA Suit Against EBay Over CAA Violations, Cites ‘Sell’ Definition

BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge dismissed a suit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, alleging that eBay Inc. is in violation of federal environmental laws by selling motor vehicle parts and accessories, pesticides and paint remover products that run afoul of pollution standards and are toxic, finding, in part, that actions by eBay do not comprise an offer to sell because eBay did not actually possess any of the items for sale.
October 02, 2024
Search Engine Users File 3rd Amended Complaint Against Google Over Search Monopoly

SAN JOSE, Calif. — After prior claims against Apple Inc. were dismissed with prejudice, a group of internet search engine users filed a third amended complaint in California federal court, asserting antitrust claims against Google LLC and related parties regarding allegations of general search services monopoly.
October 02, 2024
Epic Games Files Antitrust Suit Against Samsung, Google Over App Blocking Feature

SAN FRANCISCO — Epic Games Inc., the developer of the popular video game Fortnite, on Sept. 30 sued Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Google LLC, alleging antitrust law and California unfair competition law (UCL) violations related to Google’s and Samsung’s alleged cooperation to reduce competition in the app distribution market by agreeing to Samsung’s use of the “auto blocker” default settings on its new phones that would block all user attempts to download and install Android apps from any source competing with the Google Play Store and the Samsung Galaxy Store.
September 30, 2024
Judge Says ‘No Choice’ But To Grant Judgment To Meta In Adult Entertainers Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted summary judgment to Meta Platforms Inc. in a putative class action filed by adult entertainment (AE) performers alleging tortious interference and unfair competition in blacklisting social media posts by most AE providers in favor of the OnlyFans AE platform, finding that despite Meta’s “questionable recordkeeping,” the plaintiffs failed to show that questions remain regarding issues of material fact.
September 27, 2024
Judgment Granted For Walmart In Soldier’s E-Commerce Publicity Act Suit

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge on Sept. 26 granted summary judgment to Walmart in a suit filed against it and other e-commerce retailers by a former member of the U.S. Army’s Airborne Infantry who alleged violations of the Illinois Right of Publicity Act and negligent infliction of emotional distress related to his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the defendants’ sale of posters with his combat photo, finding that the claims are time-barred due to the Publicity Act’s one-year statute of limitations.
September 27, 2024
Plaintiff Consents To Hacked Facebook Accounts Suit Being Heard By Magistrate

SAN FRANCISCO — A plaintiff bringing a putative class action against Meta Platforms Inc. in California federal court for breach of contract and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) due to it allegedly allowing “hackers to abscond with hundreds of thousands of Facebook accounts” while barring hacked users from regaining access to their accounts consented to magistrate jurisdiction over the suit on Sept. 26.
September 27, 2024
Judge: Tattoo Artist Did Not Show How Game Makers’ Infringement Caused Damages

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge held that the developers of wrestling video games are not entitled to judgment as a matter of law after a jury determined that they are liable for copyright infringement of a tattoo artist’s work through their depictions in-game of a tattooed wrestling star, but they are entitled to judgment as a matter of law on damages because the artist presented no evidence at trial to support the award of damages.
September 26, 2024
Developers Of Video Game Cheat Again Appeal Copyright Case To 9th Circuit

SEATTLE — Only a month after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that a Washington federal judge did not err in affirming a nearly $4.4 million arbitration award in a copyright infringement case involving video game cheating software, the case is headed back to the Ninth Circuit as the companies who created the software on Sept. 25 notified the district court that they were appealing the court’s decision to deny their motion for a new trial.
September 25, 2024
DOJ Says Visa Violated Sherman Act In Online And General Purpose Network Services

NEW YORK — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Sept. 24 sued Visa Inc., a company operating “the largest debit network in the United States,” alleging violations of the Sherman Act regarding Visa’s purported monopoly power “in the general purpose debit network services” and online “general purpose card-not-present debit network services markets in the United States with market shares of at least 60% and 65%, respectively, by payment volume.”
September 20, 2024
Settlement Reported In Assault Suit Against Snapchat, Which Claimed CDA Immunity

WATERBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut state court judge stated in an order that a settlement was reported but the case was not withdrawn in a suit filed against Snap Inc., which operates the social media platform Snapchat, by the parents of a minor who was sexually assaulted by two men that she met through the platform, with the social media company claiming immunity from liability for the rapists’ actions under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA).
September 19, 2024
Magistrate, Judge Issue Discovery, Management Orders In Social Media Addiction MDL

OAKLAND, Calif. — One day after a California federal magistrate judge issued a discovery management order in a product liability multidistrict ligation over the purported addictive qualities for adolescents regarding several of the largest social media platforms, a California federal judge on Sept. 18 issued a case management order outlining and expanding on deadlines set at a previous case management conference, including deadlines for the close of fact discovery and completion of document discovery.
September 19, 2024
Split 9th Circuit Panel Rules That Uber Had Duty Of Care Toward Its Murdered Driver

SAN FRANCISCO — A split panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a grant of summary judgment by a Washington federal court in favor of a rideshare company in a lawsuit by the estate and survivors of one its drivers stemming from the driver’s murder during a carjacking attempt perpetrated by two people who had signed up for the company’s services with false personal information and a prepaid phone and gift card minutes before being matched with the driver.
September 19, 2024
Va. Federal Judge: Lost Profits Expert Can Testify In Suit Alleging Defamation

RICHMOND, Va. — An expert retained to opine on an insurance claim adjustment company’s economic loss after allegedly defaming statements were made to its customers by an online payment company can testify, a Virginia federal judge ruled.
September 19, 2024
Failure To Allege NFL Prerecorded Videos Were Viewed Deemed ‘Fatal’ To VPPA Claim

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York dismissed a putative class complaint accusing the National Football League of violating the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by sharing personal data about users of the NFL’s website, mobile application and video service with a third party, opining that the lead plaintiff’s failure to allege that prerecorded videos were viewed was “fatal” to the complaint.
September 18, 2024
Judge Denies Meta’s Dismissal Bid In Class Suit Over Facial Recognition Software

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill.— An Illinois federal judge on Sept. 17 denied a dismissal motion filed by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) in a putative class action suit alleging violations of a state privacy law regarding Meta’s collecting biometric information using facial recognition software through its Facebook messenger and messenger kids applications, finding that Meta did not “overcome the presumption against preemption” by federal law and did not show that the complaint failed to allege that Meta collected and possessed biometric data.
September 17, 2024
Petitioners To High Court: 5th Circuit Erred In Review Of Texas Porn Age Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Adult entertainment industry petitioners and their nonprofit trade association on Sept. 16 filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of their argument that the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals erred in applying a “rational-basis review rather than strict scrutiny” to a Texas law that requires the operators of pornographic websites to verify that their visitors are adults, which the petitioners argue “imposes a content-based burden on adults’ access to constitutionally protected speech.”