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

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

May 20, 2025
Judge Denies Attorney Fees To Activist Who Posted Hunter Biden Files

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge on May 19 denied a motion for attorney fees filed by a conservative activist and his organization against whom Hunter Biden had brought claims for violation of computer fraud laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after they posted data from Biden’s laptop online, finding after the voluntary dismissal of Biden’s claims that fees were not warranted.
May 16, 2025
Magistrate Grants Discovery Motion In Trademark Row Involving Web-Based Retailers

DENVER — A Colorado magistrate judge granted a fencing company’s motion for leave to conduct jurisdictional discovery in its trademark infringement suit against web-based retailers, finding that the jurisdictional discovery information sought is necessary for the court to determine whether it has personal jurisdiction over the defendants.
May 16, 2025
Judge Tosses Defamation Suit Against Meta, Says Opinions Are Not Defamation

CHICAGO — An Illinois federal judge dismissed with prejudice a suit against Meta Platforms Inc. and multiple parties filed by a man who said he was defamed by posts made about him in the Are We Dating the Same Guy? Facebook group, finding that the man failed to state a claim for relief and that the comments made about the man “were subjective opinions” and “cannot amount to defamation.”
May 15, 2025
Judgment Granted For Def Con In Defamation Suit Over Cybersecurity Conference Ban

SEATTLE — A Washington federal magistrate judge granted summary judgment to the organizer of the Def Con cybersecurity and hacking conference, Def Con Communications Inc., and its founder, Jeff Moss, in a suit accusing them of defamation related to transparency statements announcing a ban from the conference of a company for alleged violations of the conference code of conduct by its founder, finding that the misconduct implications in the statements “are true and were true at the time of publication, and that truth is a complete defense to a defamation action.”
May 14, 2025
3rd Circuit: Attorney Fees Valid Under Lanham Act In Robotics Company Squabble

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge correctly dismissed one contract claim but was wrong to dismiss another in a dispute involving the intellectual property rights of two robotics ventures and an early investor whose relationship with the ventures later soured, a Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.
May 14, 2025
Citing ‘Sufficiently Pleaded’ Allegations, Judge Won’t Toss Online Consent Dispute

TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington federal judge denied motions to dismiss and to strike class allegations in a putative class action suit against ZoomInfo Technologies LLC, a company that provides a database with information about businesses, alleging that ZoomInfo wrongfully uses individuals names without their consent to advertise its products, finding “that the class allegations are sufficiently pleaded” and that the plaintiff has shown “that her name is used by ZoomInfo to do more than merely describe its goods or services.”
May 13, 2025
Calling Amazon’s Privilege Claims ‘Frivolous,’ FTC Seeks Sanctions In Prime Row

SEATTLE — The Federal Trade Commission filed a motion seeking sanctions against Amazon.com. Inc. in a suit alleging that Amazon and its officers “tricked” customers into enrolling in the Amazon Prime service, arguing that Amazon used its privilege log to hide evidence and that the claims for privilege “were so frivolous that an attorney, upon reviewing those documents or sections thereof, could not have had a good faith basis to withhold them on privilege grounds.”
May 13, 2025
Insurer Appeals Dismissal Of Subrogation Claims In Suit Over Ransomware Attack

WILMINGTON, Del. — An insurer filed a notice indicating it is appealing a Delaware judge’s grant of an application service provider’s motion to dismiss with prejudice its amended complaint, challenging the judge’s finding that it failed to properly assert subrogation claims seeking recovery from the provider for the amount paid to nonprofit insureds for investigative and remediation steps arising from a ransomware attack.
May 12, 2025
Live Nation, Ticketmaster Seek High Court Review Of FAA Reach In Online Sales Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) protects all or only certain arbitration agreements and whether the federal act preempts California’s severability doctrine in a petition for writ of certiorari filed after the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s denial of arbitration in a putative class complaint accusing the two companies of engaging in anticompetitive practices in online ticket sales.
May 09, 2025
Award Of $800K Under Holdback Agreement Upheld By 3rd Circuit In IP Contract Row

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 8 affirmed a lower court’s judgment that an employee who sold his software company to a company that manufactures electronic voltage instruments is entitled to an award of $800,000 pursuant to a holdback agreement regarding obtaining his revenue goals, finding that the lower court did not err in its determination that the employee’s interpretation of the agreement is “reasonable.”
May 09, 2025
Tesla Owners’ Automatic Software Updates Case Dismissed After Settlement

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California dismissed with prejudice a putative class lawsuit accusing Tesla Inc. of rolling out automatic software updates that “deplete the battery and reduce the driving range of the vehicles by at least 20%” after the named parties stated that they reached a settlement agreement as to the named plaintiffs’ individual claims.
May 08, 2025
Denial Of FTC’s Injunction Bid In Activision Acquisition Upheld By 9th Circuit

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling denying a motion by the Federal Trade Commission seeking preliminary injunctive relief against the acquisition of the video game developer Activision Blizzard Inc. by Microsoft Corp., finding that the lower court correctly held that the FTC did not show the likelihood of success on the merits of its claim made pursuant to the Clayton Act.
May 07, 2025
Jury Awards Over $167M In Punitive Damages In Meta Verdict Against Spyware Firm

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California federal jury on May 6 issued a verdict finding that an Israeli-based manufacturer of spyware violated a California computer fraud law and should pay punitive damages of $167,254,000 and compensatory damages of $444,719 to plaintiffs WhatsApp LLC and Meta Platforms Inc.
May 07, 2025
8th Circuit Won’t Reverse Noninfringement Finding In Website Building Suit

ST. LOUIS — An Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the findings of a Missouri federal judge and a federal jury in a sprawling dispute over copyrighted code between two companies owned by members of the same family, along with multiple veterinary companies whose websites were built by a defendant printing company; the panel agreed with the judge’s decision to find in favor of the defendants on copyright infringement claims.
May 06, 2025
Federal Circuit: Judge Right To Find Geolocation Patent Claims Too Abstract

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a per curiam opinion that it saw no error in a Virginia federal judge’s finding that multiple asserted claims in a mobile device location data patent claimed patent ineligible subject matter for focusing only on abstract ideas.
May 06, 2025
Judge Dismisses Child Abuse Victim’s Putative Class Suit Over ICloud File-Sharing

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed putative class claims against Apple Inc. for violating federal sex trafficking laws and child pornography laws brought against it by a 9-year-old victim relating to the alleged dissemination of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on Apple’s iCloud service but granted the plaintiff leave to amend her claims for violation of consumer protection laws, including California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
May 06, 2025
Judge Rules On Dismissal Motions In Coverage Suit Over Unlawful Recording Claims

SAN DIEGO — A federal judge in California granted in part and denied in part defendant insurers’ motions to dismiss a cyber liability insurer’s lawsuit seeking equitable contribution and indemnification for an underlying lawsuit alleging their mutual insured intentionally failed to disclose that hidden cameras were installed in operating rooms and recorded patient procedures in an effort to investigate drug theft.
May 06, 2025
Class Suit Filed Against Google, LinkedIn Over Marketplace ‘Interceptions’

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California resident filed a putative class complaint against LinkedIn Corp. and Google LLC alleging violations of California and federal privacy laws when LinkedIn and Google purportedly intercepted communications without consent when she and other class members were completing health information forms on the Covered California website, California’s health insurance marketplace.
May 05, 2025
High Court Won’t Hear Challenge To Federal Circuit Vacating $13.2M Patent Verdict

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court in a May 5 order list rejected a software company’s petition for a writ of certiorari, refusing to hear arguments on whether the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals was wrong to vacate a jury’s verdict of $13.2 million in damages.
May 05, 2025
Judge OKs $20M Settlement, $5M Attorney Fees In Apple Watch Swelling Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted final approval to a $20 million settlement between Apple Inc. and plaintiffs who sought damages due to a battery swelling defect with early-model Apple Watches that in some cases caused watch screens to detach or shatter and also granted the plaintiffs’ motion for $5 million in attorney fees and nearly a half-million dollars in litigation expenses.
May 05, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Challenge To Patent Holder’s Failed Recusal Bid

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court denied a patent owner’s petition for a writ of certiorari on May 5, declining to hear arguments from the company that the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals wrongly upheld a federal judge’s denial of a patent owner’s recusal motion in an infringement dispute with Fitbit LLC and multiple other entities; the Federal Circuit previously suggested that the recusal motion could have been “strategic.”
May 02, 2025
Texas House Passes Bill Criminalizing Altered Media On Political Advertising

AUSTIN, Texas — In a vote of 102-40, the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill introduced by Rep. Dade Phelan, a former speaker of the House, making it a criminal offense to distribute political advertising that includes images, video or audio recordings that have been digitally altered using artificial intelligence (AI) unless the advertising includes a disclosure that the images, audio or video recordings did not occur in reality.
May 02, 2025
Developer Denies Promising Gamers ‘Unfettered Ownership’ Of Online Racing Game

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A video game developer filed a motion in California federal court to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit brought against it by gamers who say the developer violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by shutting down servers for an online racing game they paid for, arguing that it never concealed from gamers that they were paying for “a limited license to access the game.”
May 01, 2025
Enforcing Injunction In Epic Antitrust Suit, Judge Says Apple ‘Lied Under Oath’

OAKLAND, Calif. — Stating that “Apple willfully chose not to comply with this Court’s Injunction” in an antitrust suit filed by Epic Games Inc. against Apple Inc., a California federal judge on April 30 granted a motion filed by Epic to hold Apple in civil contempt and enforce a 2021 court-ordered injunction requiring Apple to permit app developers to inform users of methods of making in-app purchases (IAPs) outside of the company’s App Store, finding also that an Apple executive when testifying “outright lied under oath” regarding Apple’s efforts to choose “the most anticompetitive option.”
April 29, 2025
3rd Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Online Gambler’s Fraud Suit Against BetMGM

PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 28 affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of an online gambler’s New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) and negligence suit against BetMGM LLC and other online gaming owners and operators over their alleged breach of duty of care owed to him, finding that because the gambler failed to assert claims for CFA and negligence, the complaint was correctly dismissed.