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

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

August 27, 2024
5th Circuit Vacates Ruling In Social Media Standing Suit On Remand From High Court

NEW ORLEANS — In a case on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court that held that plaintiffs who sued to stop the federal government from purportedly coercing social media platforms into censoring disfavored speech do not have standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution to seek injunctive relief against the governmental defendants, the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 26 vacated and remanded a district court’s preliminary injunction to stop certain government officials from censoring speech on social media platforms.
August 27, 2024
U.S. Intervenes In FCA Suit Against Georgia Tech Over Cybersecurity Fraud

ATLANTA — The U.S. government filed a complaint-in-intervention against Georgia Tech, asserting that it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) and federal common law by falsifying that its labs, which had contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), were in compliance with DoD cybersecurity requirements.
August 26, 2024
Document Production Motion Denied In Suit Over Amazon ‘Tricking’ Prime Consumers

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge denied a motion to compel production of documents filed by Amazon.com Inc. and its officers, who were sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the defendants allegedly “tricking” customers into enrolling in the Amazon Prime service, finding in part that the documents sought, including internal FTC communications, are not relevant to the FTC’s interpretation of a federal law the defendants are accused of violating.
August 26, 2024
Federal Judge: Artist’s Trademark, Copyright Claims Against Amazon Largely Survive

RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A federal judge in California partly denied a motion from Amazon.com Inc. to dismiss a complaint brought against it by an artist, holding that the artist adequately established that the defendant infringed upon his trademarks by selling counterfeited works, but noted that the artist conceded that he failed to establish other elements of his claims.
August 23, 2024
Justice Department Sues Rental Market Software Company Over Antitrust Violations

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys general of eight states on Aug. 23 filed an antitrust suit against RealPage Inc., a commercial revenue management software company, alleging that RealPage uses nonpublic information obtained from landlords and runs the information through its algorithmic software to align pricing, thereby impeding the free market process.
August 23, 2024
6th Circuit Remands For Development Of Record In Row Over Facebook Deletions

CINCINNATI — On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the state action doctrine requires showing that an official has the authority to speak on behalf of the entity he represents and exercised that authority, the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals remanded to a district court for further development of the record a suit filed by a man whose posts were deleted from a public official’s personal Facebook account.
August 23, 2024
9th Circuit Won’t Revive Crypto Law Firm’s Suit Against SEC

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of judges in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held Aug. 22 that a cryptocurrency-focused law firm lacked standing to bring a suit against the Securities and Exchange Commission because the firm failed to show that it was in danger of being subject to enforcement action over its use of the cryptocurrency network Ethereum, affirming a California federal judge’s decision to dismiss the firm’s case last year.
August 22, 2024
Record Labels, ISP Both Complain Of 4th Circuit’s Copyright Holding To High Court

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In dueling petitions for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, a group of record labels and music publishers say the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly vacated a $1 billion award for vicarious copyright infringement by an internet service provider (ISP), while the ISP argues the Fourth Circuit erred in finding it is liable for contributory infringement.
August 22, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Data Theft Claims Against Auto Insurer

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 21 affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of a putative class action brought against an auto insurer for failure to protect three individuals’ personal data, specifically their driver’s license numbers, from a hack of its online insurance quoting system, after finding that none of the appellants suffered an injury.
August 21, 2024
9th Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment In Chrome Users’ Data Collection Suit

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 20 reversed a California federal judge’s entry of summary judgment on claims brought by users of Google LLC’s web browser app Chrome for collecting their personally identifiable information (PII) allegedly in violation of privacy laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL), writing that the District Court did not properly apply the “reasonable person” standard.
August 21, 2024
Judge Sets Hearing Date In Ad Tech Antitrust Suit As To Google’s Chat Deletion

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Virginia federal judge issued an order setting a hearing date to address an adverse inference motion filed by the U.S. government and 17 states related to Google’s purported deletion of chat evidence and the plaintiffs’ argument that Google’s auto deletion policy of internal company chats after 24 hours has harmed them in their antitrust violation suit accusing the tech giant of monopolizing the online digital advertising market.
August 20, 2024
9th Circuit Affirms Injunction Over 1st Amendment Issues With Online Privacy Act

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed in part a district court’s order granting a preliminary injunction to a trade association of online businesses in its suit challenging the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act (CAADCA), which was enacted to provide online privacy protections for children under 18, finding that the association was likely to succeed in showing that the act’s requirement for covered businesses to opine on and reduce the risk of children’s exposure to possibly harmful material violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
August 14, 2024
9th Circuit Partly Revives Investor’s Price-Fixing Claim Against Crypto Outfits

SAN FRANCISCO — A panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals partially revived a putative class complaint brought by an investor against several cryptocurrency companies, alleging that they conspired to deflate the value of a crypto asset, holding that an Arizona federal judge erred in holding that the investor failed to establish personal jurisdiction regarding the crypto companies.
August 14, 2024
Data Breach Class Complaint Against Restaurant Group Sent Back To State Court

LOS ANGELES — A putative class complaint accusing Panda Restaurant Group Inc. of failing to have sufficient measures in place to protect customers’ personal data belongs in state court, a federal judge in California ruled, opining that even though the data breach affected the operator of more than 2,000 restaurants in 30 states, the plaintiff is free to limited his proposed class to California customers.
August 14, 2024
FTC Offers Principles For ‘Relief’ In Google Antitrust Litigation With Epic Games

SAN FRANCISCO — Eight 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, the Federal Trade Commission filed an amicus curiae brief in a California federal court seeking to assist the court with its remedy to address Google’s “illegal conduct,” asserting that the court should “consider the particular characteristics of digital markets” and their dynamics to address “the need for remedies that go beyond purely prohibitory injunctions in digital markets.”
August 14, 2024
Panel Vacates Ruling In Coverage Suit Over Claim Tinder Misappropriated Idea

NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 13 vacated a lower federal court’s summary judgment ruling in favor of an insured and remanded for the lower court to determine in the first instance whether a New York statute might affect the timeliness of the insured’s notice of an underlying claim alleging that Tinder Inc. misappropriated a product-development consultant’s idea for a “Super Like” feature on the Tinder dating app without giving him the “promised compensation.”
August 13, 2024
Split 9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Challenge To Meta’s Vaccine Post Censorship

PASADENA, Calif. — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s dismissal of the Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) suit alleging that Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by censoring what CHD says are accurate posts challenging the government’s “orthodoxy” as to the safety of vaccines, finding that Meta, as a private corporation, cannot be treated as a state actor for constitutional purposes because CHD failed to show that Meta’s censorship was a provision of federal law.
August 12, 2024
Government Seeks Sanctions For Google’s Chat Deletion In Ad Tech Antitrust Suit

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The U.S. government and 17 states filed a motion in a Virginia federal court for an adverse inference related to Google’s purported deletion of chat evidence, arguing that Google’s auto deletion policy of internal company chats after 24 hours has harmed the plaintiffs in their antitrust violation suit accusing the tech giant of monopolizing the online digital advertising market.
August 09, 2024
X Corp. Says Advertisers’ Illegal Group Boycott Caused ‘Massive Economic Harm’

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — X Corp., formerly known as Twitter Inc., sued advertisers in a Texas federal court, alleging that they violated antitrust laws in boycotting the social media platform Twitter “abruptly and in lockstep, . . . by discontinuing entirely or substantially reducing their previously substantial advertising purchases.”
August 09, 2024
Class Suit Filed Against Delta Over CrowdStrike Crash Causing Flight Cancellations

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines passengers whose flights were canceled as a result of an automatic update to CrowdStrike’s cybersecurity software that caused computers, including those used by Delta, to crash filed a putative class action suit in a Georgia federal court, asserting that Delta violated its policies to provide flight refunds, hotel accommodations and related expenses when flights were canceled by breaching its contract with customers, resulting in them spending additional funds for alternative transportation methods.
August 09, 2024
Judge Denies Roblox’s Bid To Arbitrate Couple’s ‘Child Exploitation’ Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on Aug. 8 denied online video game developer Roblox Corp.’s motion to compel arbitration of putative class claims that it violates California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by intentionally addicting children to its online game, which requires purchases of in-game currency to play, writing that Roblox did not show that the parents who filed the suit ever read or consented to its arbitration agreement.
August 09, 2024
Magistrate Judge: Crypto Exchange Not Subject To U.S. Securities Laws

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal magistrate judge in Texas recommended that a putative class complaint brought by investors who say an online crypto asset exchange and its organizers misled them by saying their investment was risk free should be dismissed without prejudice, writing that the complaint should proceed in an Israeli court because the crypto organization is registered as an entity in Israel and lacked sufficient contact with the United States.
August 08, 2024
Federal Judge Orders $125M Civil Penalty Against Crypto Firm In SEC Enforcement

NEW YORK — A crypto asset firm will be required to pay more than $120 million as a civil penalty after a New York federal judge on Aug. 7 granted the Securities and Exchange Commission’s motion for entry of final judgment on the commission’s allegations that cryptocurrencies sold by the firm were effectively unregistered securities.
August 08, 2024
Impacted Air Travelers Sue CrowdStrike For Causing ‘Catastrophic’ Outage

AUSTIN, Texas — A group of airplane travelers filed a putative class complaint in Texas federal court against tech company CrowdStrike Inc. accusing it of harming them by failing to properly test its cybersecurity software before issuing an update that allegedly caused 8.5 million computers and devices to go offline, including at airports, delaying their flights in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.
August 08, 2024
Restaurants’ Lanham Act Claims Against Grubhub Largely Survive Dismissal Motion

CHICAGO — A federal judge in Illinois said seven of nine restaurants who brought trademark violation claims in a putative class complaint against Grubhub Inc., alleging that the company included their names and logos on its food delivery app without the restaurants’ permission, failed to show that they have a protectible trademark interest, while the claims from the remaining two restaurants are adequately pleaded.