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Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

  • August 12, 2025

    COMMENTARY: Shifting Cyber Risk: The Critical Role Of Indemnification In Vendor Contracts

    By Latosha Ellis and Veronica P. Adams

  • August 15, 2025

    High Court Won’t Vacate Stay Of Injunction Preventing Social Media Law Enforcement

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 14 denied an application by the internet trade association NetChoice LLC seeking to vacate the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ stay of a lower court injunction to stop the enforcement of certain provisions of a Mississippi statute that would regulate minors’ access to certain internet platforms by requiring parental consent.

  • August 15, 2025

    Windows 10 User Says Microsoft Stopping Tech Support To Boost Its AI

    SAN DIEGO — A consumer filed a suit in California state court against Microsoft Corp. over its plans to cease offering technical support for its Windows 10 operating system (OS) in October 2025, claiming that it wants to drive users onto newer Microsoft products that use artificial intelligence so it can “monopolize the generative AI market” and failed to disclose that Windows 10 licenses were temporary in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • August 14, 2025

    Split 6th Circuit Won’t Review Petitions Challenging FCC Telecom Data Breach Rule

    CINCINNATI — A split Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 13 denied consolidated petitions for review of a Federal Communications Commission rule requiring reporting by telecommunications carriers of data breaches involving  personally identifiable information (PII), finding that pursuant to the Communications Act, the FCC has the authority to implement reporting requirements related to data breaches involving customer PII.

  • August 13, 2025

    Amazon’s Human Factors Expert Out In FTC Suit Over Prime Membership Enrollment

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge agreed with the Federal Trade Commission that testimony from an expert retained by Amazon.com Inc. to opine on the company’s user interfaces in a suit accusing Amazon and its officers of tricking customers into enrolling in the Amazon Prime service is inadmissible under Federal Rule of Evidence 702.

  • August 12, 2025

    App Developers Accuse Apple Of Monopolizing App Sales Market

    OAKLAND, Calif. — Seven plaintiffs filed an amended class action against Apple Inc. in California federal court accusing the company of monopolizing the market for apps and harming their companies by forcing them to pay “supra-competitive commissions” to keep their products available on the Apple App Store, allegedly in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), antitrust law and Korean and Japanese anti-monopoly laws.

  • August 11, 2025

    Judge Partly Grants Motion To Certify Class In Misleading Crypto Promotions Suit

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted in part and denied in part a motion by cryptocurrency investors to certify a class against a cryptocurrency developer, the developers’ executives and celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather Jr. who promoted the crypto coin as a reliable investment, allegedly in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other state laws.

  • August 11, 2025

    Connecticut Judge Refuses To Strike Bad Faith Claims In Cryptocurrency Loss Suit

    MILFORD, Conn.— A Connecticut judge denied a homeowners insurer’s motion to strike  two claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in a coverage dispute arising from the insured’s cryptocurrency loss, finding that the insured has asserted specific conduct that indicates actions “with conscious bad faith design.”

  • August 07, 2025

    Split 2nd Circuit Certifies Questions In Social Media Hateful Conduct Law Dispute

    NEW YORK — In New York Attorney General Letitia James’s appeal of a district court order enjoining enforcement of New York’s Hateful Conduct Law that includes policy disclosure and report mechanism requirements stating that social media platforms must have methods of reporting hateful conduct, a split Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals certified three questions to the New York Court of Appeals, finding that the state appellate court is the appropriate court to conduct the analysis of the statute.

  • August 05, 2025

    9th Circuit Stays Injunction In Epic Games Antitrust Suit Over Google Play Store

    SAN FRANCISCO — Without providing explanation, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted Google LLC’s emergency motion for a stay of a district court’s permanent injunction against Google in an antitrust suit filed against it by Epic Games Inc. over Google’s removal of Epic’s Fortnite game from the Google Play Store.

  • August 05, 2025

    Education Material Provider’s AI Antitrust Suit Fails, Google Says

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — An education content provider cannot show reciprocal dealing from its relationship with Google LLC or that the two have any relationship that requires the latter to refer users to the former’s website rather than provide artificial intelligence-generated responses to user queries, the company says in moving to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia.

  • August 04, 2025

    9th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Negligence Claim In Child Porn Row With Twitter

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 1 affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part a lower court’s dismissal of a suit by two John Does’ asserting claims against Twitter Inc. (now known as X Corp.) for violations of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), negligence per se and product liability for allowing purported child pornography to stay on the social media platform, finding that while Twitter is immune pursuant to Section 230 to the federal law claims and some product liability claims, negligence and defective reporting-infrastructure design claims are not barred by Section 230.

  • August 04, 2025

    Judge Gives Preliminary OK To $4.7M Settlement Of Deceptive Discount Claims

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted preliminary approval of a $4.7 million settlement of class action claims accusing an underwear and apparel company of deceiving online customers with “fake timers that countdown fake limited time sales” in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws, with the amount of attorney fees sought by plaintiffs’ counsel not yet specified.

  • August 01, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Verdict, Injunction In Antitrust Row Between Epic and Google

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 31 affirmed a jury verdict and the trial court’s entry of a permanent injunction against Google LLC in an antitrust suit filed against it by Epic Games Inc. over Google’s removal of Epic’s Fortnite game from the Google Play Store, finding that the verdict and injunction were “supported by the record.”

  • August 01, 2025

    Judge Approves $10 Million Settlement In NFT Securities Class Row With DraftKings

    BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge issued an order approving a $10 million settlement between parties in a class suit accusing DraftKings Inc. of violating securities laws through its sale of nonfungible tokens (NFTs).

  • August 01, 2025

    OnlyFans Operators Ask Court To Reconsider Dismissal Of Subscribers’ Class Suit

    SANTA ANA, Calif. — The entities that operate the adult website OnlyFans on July 31 filed a motion asking a California federal judge to reconsider a ruling refusing to dismiss on forum non conveniens a suit brought by California subscribers who claim that they were deceived into paying to communicate with “professional chatters” instead of adult content creators, writing that the court’s “public policy rationales” were recently overturned.

  • July 31, 2025

    Women’s Dating Advice App ‘Ignored’ Data Security Before Hack, Plaintiffs Say

    SAN FRANCISCO — Two women filed separate putative class action lawsuits in California federal court against the developer of the Tea app, where women post anonymously about dating men, accusing it of negligence and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after its database of users’ identity-verification photos and drivers’ license pictures was hacked and posted online.

  • July 31, 2025

    Judgment Denied In Gym Dispute With Promotion Company Over Roku-Streamed Fights

    LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Arkansas federal judge denied summary judgment to a gym and its owner regarding the gym’s alleged purchase and streaming of Ultimate Fighting Championship fights using the ESPN+ app via Roku and allegations by a promotion company with exclusive rights to at least some of those fights that the gym violated the Communications Act, finding that the suit is not barred by the state statute of limitations and that the record lacks clarity regarding whether the fights are protected by the Communications Act.

  • July 30, 2025

    Illinois Majority: Cyber Event Exclusion Bars Coverage For Fraudulent Wire Transfer

    CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals court majority affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of an insurer in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for the insureds’ underlying $673,384.18 loss arising from a fraudulent wire transfer, holding that the policy’s cyber event exclusion bars coverage.

  • July 29, 2025

    Epic Says Opinion ‘Provides No Basis’ To End Injunction In Apple Antitrust Row

    SAN FRANCISCO — In an antitrust suit dispute between Apple Inc. and Epic Games Inc., Epic filed a response in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to Apple’s argument that pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., a district court did not have the authority to make applicable to all developers the injunctive order requiring Apple to permit app developers to inform users of methods for making in-app purchases (IAPs) outside of the company’s App Store.

  • July 28, 2025

    Split N.Y. Panel Dismisses Tort Claims Against Meta In Grocery Store Shooting Suit

    ROCHESTER, N.Y. — In four consolidated appeals, a split New York appeals court on July 25 reversed a lower court ruling denying dismissal to Meta Platforms Inc. and other social media companies sued for various tort claims by survivors and family members of victims killed in a 2022 grocery story shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., finding that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides immunity to these defendants for the tort claims against them.

  • July 25, 2025

    Judge Denies Stay Of Order Requiring OMB To Restore Public Apportionments Website

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a docket-only order, a District of Columbia federal judge denied a motion filed by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its director to stay an order requiring them to restore a public apportionments database, finding that the conduct in removing the database “unequivocally violates federal law.”

  • July 25, 2025

    9th Circuit: Bored Ape NFTs Trademarkable, But Confusion Not Shown

    SAN FRANCISCO — While a panel in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the makers of Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that NFTs are trademarkable “goods” as defined in the Lanham Act, the panel reversed summary judgment in the company’s favor on trademark infringement and cybersquatting claims because it failed to show convincingly that consumers would confuse its NFTs with other ape-themed products from two defendants lampooning the original NFTs.

  • July 24, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Breach Of Contract Suit Against Apple Over Cloud

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 23 affirmed a lower court’s order dismissing a woman’s putative class action suit against Apple Inc., alleging breach of contract and violations of California consumer protection laws for Apple’s purported deceptive representations regarding its iCloud data storage, finding that the woman failed to show that Apple’s statements would deceive a reasonable consumer and that she failed to allege breach of contract.

  • July 22, 2025

    Judge Denies Preliminary Approval Of $7.8M Settlement In Video Games Antitrust Case

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a plaintiff’s motion for preliminary approval of a $7.8 million settlement to resolve claims against Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC for violating antitrust laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by monopolizing sales of PlayStation 5 (PS5) video games through its online store, citing “glaring shortcomings” in the motion.