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Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

  • 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.

  • July 21, 2025

    Trump Sues Wall Street Journal For $10B Alleging Defamation, Republishing On X

    MIAMI — President Donald J. Trump on July 18 sued The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), its holding company, the company’s owner and its CEO and two reporters, seeking $10 billion in damages and alleging that he was defamed when the WSJ published and then republished on the WSJ X account “to all 20,800,000 of its followers” a story on a purported “bawdy” card Trump allegedly sent to now-deceased Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday.

  • July 21, 2025

    Fact Discovery Closed After Judge Refuses To Certify IPhone Data Class Action

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on July 18 entered a stipulated order closing fact discovery in a class action against Apple Inc. after denying in an earlier order the plaintiff’s motion for class certification on claims that Apple wastes iPhone users’ cellular data even when their phones were set to reduce the consumption of data, in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), and denying as moot opposing motions to exclude expert witnesses.

  • July 18, 2025

    5th Circuit Partially Grants Writ Seeking Venue Change In X Corp. Ad Dispute

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted in part a petition for writ of mandamus filed by a nonprofit seeking a venue transfer in X Corp.’s suit asserting that the nonprofit wrote articles “disparaging X Corp.” by accusing X Corp. of placing advertisements on its platform near antisemitic content, finding that in denying the transfer, the lower court failed to address all the factors required by case law.

  • July 17, 2025

    Judgment Partially Granted For AT&T In ‘SIM Swap’ Cryptocurrency Theft Dispute

    LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on July 16 granted in part summary judgment for AT&T in a dispute with an AT&T wireless customer alleging negligence against AT&T over a “SIM swap” that resulted in the purported theft of cryptocurrency from the customer, finding there is an absence of evidence showing that an AT&T employee who swapped the customer’s SIM card was acting to further the interests of his employer.

  • July 17, 2025

    Dismissal Denied In Antitrust, Hacking Lawsuits Over Car Dealership Software

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge issued rulings largely denying motions to dismiss in two lawsuits filed against each other by competitors in the auto dealership management system (DMS) market, which have accused each other of hacking proprietary data and antitrust violations blocking access to the market in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and antitrust law.

  • July 17, 2025

    Judge Says Federal Agencies Do Not Have To Restore Shuttered Environmental Sites

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled that several agencies that were sued by a group of nonprofits for removing webpages that provided information about environmental justice and climate change do not have to put the sites back up right now in denying the groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction because they showed only economic harm and waited too long to seek relief.

  • July 16, 2025

    9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Suit Against Microsoft, Says Microsoft Owns Data

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 15 affirmed a lower court’s order dismissing with prejudice a breach of contract suit filed by an internet security company against Microsoft Corp. alleging that Microsoft used the company’s services outside the scope of the contract to recover compromised account credential data, finding that the company’s allegations fail to show that Microsoft had a duty to limit its use of the data provided.

  • July 15, 2025

    After Settlement Notice, Judge Moots Motions In Web-Based Retailers Trademark Row

    DENVER — After a fencing company and the web-based retailers it sued over alleged trademark infringement notified the court that the parties entered into a settlement agreement, a Colorado federal judge on July 14 issued a docket-only order denying as moot motions to dismiss and for an extension of time related to discovery.

  • July 15, 2025

    Judge Tosses ISP Suit Seeking To Enforce Foreign Arbitration Award Exceeding $16M

    NEW YORK — A New York federal judge on July 14 dismissed with prejudice a suit brought by a now-bankrupt Indonesian-based internet service provider (ISP) seeking to enforce an Indonesian arbitrator’s award of the equivalent of $16,948,937.28 for contracts to provide internet service in Indonesia, finding that the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and that amendment would be futile.

  • July 14, 2025

    Judge Dismisses Suit Against Meta That Alleged Failure To Stop Murder Livestream

    ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A New Mexico federal judge dismissed without prejudice a breach of contract suit filed against Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) by the mother of a woman who was shot and killed by her boyfriend, who livestreamed the shooting on Facebook, finding that the plaintiff failed to show that the court has specific jurisdiction over the suit.

  • July 11, 2025

    Judge Issues ‘Admonition’ To Amazon Regarding Privilege Log In FTC Suit Over Prime

    SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge on July 10 issued an “admonition” in response to the Federal Trade Commission’s motion seeking sanctions against Amazon.com Inc. for Amazon’s alleged use of its privilege log to hide evidence in a suit accusing Amazon and its officers of tricking customers into enrolling in the Amazon Prime service.

  • July 11, 2025

    Caltech Cybersecurity Bootcamp Class Plaintiff Urges Approval Of $400K Settlement

    SAN FRANCISCO — A woman who enrolled in an online education program called the “Caltech Cybersecurity Bootcamp” and filed a putative class action suit alleging that the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and its partner, Simplilearn Americas Inc., deceptively marketed the bootcamp filed a brief in California state court urging the court to certify a settlement class and preliminarily approve a $400,000 settlement to be distributed among the participating class members.

  • July 10, 2025

    Judge Denies Online Retailer’s Dismissal Bid In ADA Compliance Class Dispute

    BROOKLYN, N.Y. — A New York federal judge on July 9 denied a motion to dismiss filed by an online retailer of children’s clothing in a putative class action suit alleging that the retailer failed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) to maintain a website compatible with screen access programs, finding that the allegations in the complaint assert a claim under the ADA and under city law.

  • July 10, 2025

    Forum Selection Clause Issue Certified For Appeal In Crypto Wallet Data Breach Row

    SAN FRANCISCO — Declining to grant partial final judgment as to dismissed claims and defendants in a putative class action over a crypto-asset wallet firm’s 2020 data breach, a California federal judge, instead, granted interlocutory appeal on the issue of whether subcontractors of the wallet maker can avail themselves of a forum selection clause in the lead defendant’s terms of service (TOS).

  • July 09, 2025

    Split 9th Circuit Vacates Dismissal Of Journalists’ Pegasus Spyware Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — A split Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on July 8 vacated and remanded a lower court order dismissing a suit alleging that Israeli-based NSO Group Technologies Limited and Q Cyber Technologies Limited used their software product, Pegasus, to hack into journalists’ smartphones, finding that the lower court abused its discretion in dismissing the suit on forum non conveniens grounds.

  • July 09, 2025

    Epic Dismisses Antitrust Claims, Says It Settled With Samsung In App Blocking Suit

    SAN FRANCISCO — Epic Games Inc., the developer of the popular video game Fortnite, filed a notice stating that it settled claims against Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Samsung Electronics America Inc. (collectively, Samsung) in a suit alleging antitrust law and California unfair competition law (UCL) violations against Samsung and Google LLC related to their 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.

  • July 08, 2025

    OPM Memo, HHS Guidance Vacated In Webpage Removal Row Over ‘Gender Ideology’ Order

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a suit accusing the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of exceeding its authority, a District of Columbia federal judge vacated an OPM memo and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) guidance directing removal of health-related webpages in response to President Donald J. Trump’s executive order titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” finding that the OPM and HHS “acted contrary to law.”

  • July 03, 2025

    Trump Issues 3rd Order, Again Pausing Enforcement Of Act Banning TikTok

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump issued a third executive order pausing enforcement of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act as to TikTok until Sept. 17, requiring the Department of Justice not to enforce the act, which would have resulted in a ban on the popular social network absent a corporate ownership change.

  • July 02, 2025

    Jury Awards Over $314M In Class Suit Against Google Over Data ‘Misappropriation’

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California state court jury on July 1 awarded $314,626,932 to plaintiffs in a class action against Google LLC alleging that it misappropriated their cellular data allowances via passive transfers of information between Google and their mobile devices.

  • July 01, 2025

    Petition Denied In Employee Speech Case; Justice Raises Concerns About Approach

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on June 30 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari seeking consideration of a question concerning a high school teacher’s social media posts and whether they were preemployment speech; Justice Clarence Thomas agreed with the denial but filed a statement “to raise serious concerns about the First Circuit’s approach,” calling the appellate panel’s analysis under the framework of Pickering v. Board of Education of Township High School District 205, Will Cty. and Garcetti v. Ceballos “deeply flawed.”