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

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

January 24, 2025
Judge Says First Sale Doctrine Doesn’t Apply To Software Keys

SEATTLE — The first sale doctrine does not apply to software product keys, a federal judge in Washington held Jan. 23, because those keys are not themselves copyrightable works, granting partial summary judgment as to a single affirmative defense in favor of the Microsoft Corp. against a Canadian entity and several individuals Microsoft called “prolific distributors of black market access devices to Microsoft software that they unlawfully advertise to consumers as genuine software.”
January 23, 2025
LinkedIn Used Private Messages To Train Generative AI, User Claims

SAN FRANCISCO — A user of the professional networking and social media site LinkedIn filed a putative class action lawsuit in California federal court accusing the company that operates the site of violating federal law and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by accessing Premium users’ private messages to train artificial intelligence models without their consent.
January 23, 2025
Former Meta COO Sanctioned Over Lost E-Mails In Fiduciary Breach Suit

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware Court of Chancery vice chancellor granted in part a motion for sanctions filed by plaintiffs in a breach of fiduciary suit against Facebook Inc. (now known as Meta Platforms Inc.) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former chief operating officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg and specified board members and related parties over Meta’s alleged “deceptive” privacy settings resulting in sharing users information without their consent, finding that because Sandberg failed to preserve emails resulting in prejudice to the plaintiffs, the court will increase the burden of proof against her on any relevant issue.
January 22, 2025
Solar-Cell Module Patent Claims Invalid, Federal Circuit Agrees

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) was right to find that the claims of a solar energy company’s patent on a type of solar-cell module were unpatentable as obvious, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 21.
January 22, 2025
High Court Won’t Review Case Challenging Web-Based Alleged Defamatory Statements

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 21 denied a petition for writ of certiorari filed by a physician seeking review of the California Supreme Court’s ruling declining review of a lower court decision that denied a motion to strike filed by a physician pursuant to the California Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) in a defamation suit filed against the physician by an attorney alleging that she and another physician defamed him by calling him a “vexatious” litigant on a public website.
January 21, 2025
President Trump Pauses Enforcement Of Act Banning TikTok For 75 Days

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump on Jan. 20 issued an executive order requiring the U.S. attorney general not to enforce for 75 days the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which, if enforced on its effective date of Jan. 19, would have resulted in a ban on popular social network TikTok absent a corporate ownership change.
January 17, 2025
Supreme Court Says Law Banning TikTok Does Not Violate 1st Amendment Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 17 held that provisions of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act do not violate the First Amendment rights of petitioners TikTok Inc. and Tik Tok creators and a nonprofit seeking to stop the enforcement of the law that promises to ban the social network on Jan. 19 absent a corporate ownership change, finding that the act’s challenged provisions “further an important Government interest unrelated to the suppression of free expression and do not burden substantially more speech than necessary to further that interest.”
January 17, 2025
Judge Tentatively OKs $7.5M ‘Virtual Diamonds’ Refund In Gambling App Settlement

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge at a Jan. 16 hearing presented his tentative ruling granting a motion for preliminary approval of a settlement between a mobile casino games developer and a putative class represented by two players who accused the developer of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and state gambling laws, deeming “fair” the settlement, which is projected to require an in-game currency refund to players worth a total of $7.5 million, injunctive relief purportedly worth $163.2 million and attorney fees greater than $1.4 million.
January 16, 2025
Microsoft Browser Extension ‘Steals’ Affiliate Links For Profit, App Operator Says

SEATTLE — An app operator and online content creator that earns funds from online marketing filed a putative class action complaint in Washington federal court against Microsoft Corp. contending that its in-browser shopping extension “systematically steals commission payments from their rightful owners,” writing that Microsoft knowingly takes affiliate links posted by marketers and redirects their expected profits to itself in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL).
January 16, 2025
Gaming Company Urges 9th Circuit To Enforce Arbitration Agreement With Players

SAN FRANCISCO — A gaming company and its co-founders on Jan. 15 filed an appellant brief to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals urging it to reverse a judge’s refusal to enforce its arbitration agreement with players who in a putative class suit say they were deceived into playing games advertised as offering live competition but which in fact involved gameplay against bots, writing that the judge misapplied standards of unconscionability and severability.
January 15, 2025
High Court Hears Arguments In Dispute Over Age-Based Online Texas Porn Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 15 heard oral arguments in a case in which Free Speech Coalition Inc. (FSC), a nonprofit adult industry trade association, and other adult entertainment industry petitioners urge reversal of a ruling by the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that vacated an injunction for a Texas law requiring the operators of pornographic websites to verify that their visitors are adults.
January 15, 2025
RFK Jr.-Founded Group Seeks High Court Review Of Ruling Upholding 'Censored' Speech

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Children’s Health Defense (CHD), a nonprofit founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming a district court’s dismissal of a 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.
January 15, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Pro Se X User’s UCL Suit Over Account Suspension

SAN FRANCISCO — A Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed the dismissal with prejudice of a pro se plaintiff’s lawsuit against X Corp. asserting that his account was suspended in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after he criticized and messaged an adult content creator.
January 15, 2025
Bitcoin Miner Doesn’t Show He Invented Crypto Patent, Federal Circuit Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Delaware federal judge was right to reject hearsay evidence regarding a conversation over cocktails at a cryptocurrency conference when holding that a cryptocurrency mining company and its founder failed to show that the founder should be added as the named inventor to another crypto company’s patent, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held.
January 15, 2025
6th Circuit Stays Injunction In Row Over ‘Online Wild West’ Age Verification Law

CINCINNATI — The Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted the Tennessee attorney general’s motion to stay a district court’s preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the Protect Tennessee Minors Act (PTMA), finding that the attorney general “has shown that the district court likely erred in concluding that the PTMA is facially unconstitutional.”
January 14, 2025
2nd Circuit Agrees: Vimeo Protected By DMCA Safe Harbor For Posts

NEW YORK — A group of record labels failed to show that video sharing website Vimeo Inc. had “red flag” knowledge that user-uploaded videos contained copyrighted musical recordings, a Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held Jan. 13, affirming a New York federal judge’s finding that the company is covered by a safe harbor in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that offers protection from infringement liability to some websites for user behavior.
January 14, 2025
Supreme Court Won’t Hear Roku’s Arguments On Importing Infringing Products

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 decided that it will not consider whether the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) was right to hold that electronics company Roku Inc. failed to show that another company’s telecommunications patent was invalid as obvious, leaving in place an opinion from the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirming the ITC’s findings.
January 13, 2025
Certiorari Denied In Meta’s Advertising Fraud Damages Class Certification Dispute

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 13 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by Meta Platforms Inc. seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling affirming the certification of a damages class in a suit alleging fraudulent misrepresentation and concealment related to Meta’s online advertising services.
January 10, 2025
High Court Hears Argument On TikTok’s Bid To Prevent Enforcement Of Law Banning It

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 10 heard oral argument in consolidated petitions filed by TikTok Inc. and Tik Tok creators and a nonprofit seeking to stop the enforcement of a federal law that promises to ban the popular social network on Jan. 19 absent a corporate ownership change.
January 10, 2025
Consumer’s Putative Class Suit For Audible Subscription Without Notice May Proceed

SEATTLE — A Washington federal judge denied a motion by Amazon.com Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Audible Inc. to dismiss putative class claims alleging that they violated California consumer protection laws, including the state’s unfair competition law (UCL), by enrolling a consumer in an Audible subscription and charging her renewal fees, allegedly without notice.
January 10, 2025
DOJ Opposes Dismissal Of Antitrust Suit Against Rental Market Software Company

GREENSBORO, N.C. — After RealPage Inc., a commercial revenue management software company, filed a motion to dismiss an antitrust suit against it in a North Carolina federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice and attorneys general of multiple states filed a brief urging the court not to dismiss the suit, which alleges 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.
January 09, 2025
Content Creators Say PayPal Used ‘Honey’ Browser Extension To ‘Steal’ Profits

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on Jan. 8 deferred ruling on an administrative motion to relate four putative class actions brought by influencers and content creators active on YouTube and Instagram who accuse PayPal Inc. of interfering with prospective economic relations and violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by using a popular browser extension to redirect their profits from market affiliate links to itself.
January 08, 2025
Motion To Quash Granted In Trade Secret Suit Over Alleged Stolen Computer Data

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — A South Dakota federal magistrate judge granted a motion to quash a subpoena filed by a woman accused by her former employer of breach of contract and violation of state and federal trade secret law for allegedly wiping her former work computer clean and taking trade-secret information with her, finding that the subpoena seeking access to her cell phone records is “grossly overbroad.”
January 07, 2025
Injunction Sought Pending Appeal Of California Social Media Parental Consent Law

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A nationwide trade association for internet companies filed a motion in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, seeking an injunction to prevent the enforcement of a California law requiring parental consent for minors to access personalized feeds on social media after a district court held that certain portions of the law do not violate the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
January 07, 2025
Mother Accuses Roblox, Epic Of Addicting Son To Games For Profit

LOS ANGELES — A minor video game player’s mother filed a products liability lawsuit accusing two video game developers of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by encouraging youth addiction to their video games to maximize profits, writing that the developers intentionally included addictive features in the games despite knowing they are primarily played by youth.