Our recent posts on successful legal challenges to the arbitration clauses in browsewrap and clickwrap agreements have a theme in common—even the most thorough and well-worded agreement can be rendered unenforceable by...more
We previously covered the developing legal issues with browsewrap agreements and the importance of reviewing and updating any such agreement to ensure users are bound to the terms. In a browsewrap agreement, the user’s assent...more
Anyone who has purchased a product online or downloaded software for a computer, tablet or mobile device has likely encountered “browsewrap” and “clickwrap” agreements. Such agreements are the bread and butter of companies...more
Famed wrestler Hulk Hogan’s $140 million trial verdict against Gawker Media for publishing a tape of him having relations with his best friend’s wife and using racially offensive language, sends a clear message that despite...more
A Chicago law firm has challenged Jay-Z and Kanye West, filing a class action complaint for violations of the California Business & Professions Code, fraudulent inducement and unjust enrichment in the Northern District of...more
We’ve previously written about the distinctions between hacking credit and other financial data in comparison to hacking private information. (See Ashley Madison and Coming to “Terms” with Data Protection.) The issue of how...more
4/25/2016
/ Ashley Madison ,
Attorney-Client Privilege ,
Confidential Information ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Hackers ,
Inadvertent Disclosure ,
Popular ,
Public Disclosure ,
Young Lawyers
Last week, the en banc Federal Circuit declined to rehear its November 10, 2015, decision in ClearCorrect v. ITC, 2014-1527, leaving the U.S. International Trade Commission’s (ITC) Section 337 jurisdiction to “material...more
In a March 25, 2016 Order, Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California gave Google and Oracle the choice between agreeing to a ban on conducting Internet and social media research on jurors until the trial is...more
In “The Case of Prince, a Dancing Baby and the DMCA Takedown Notice,” we discussed the potential impact of the Ninth Circuit decision in Lenz v. Universal Music Corp., 801 F.3d 1126 (2015), a.k.a. the “dancing baby case,” in...more
3/31/2016
/ Algorithms ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Digital Media ,
DMCA ,
Fair Use ,
Good Faith ,
Music Industry ,
Online Videos ,
Popular ,
Takedown Notices ,
Universal ,
YouTube
Consumer protection is always in style with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Under the FTC Act, a company cannot make a misrepresentation that would affect the consumer’s conduct or decisions with regard to a product or...more
We recently wrote about a musician who got into some trouble with a court by using social media to flaunt images of hundred dollar bills after he had filed for bankruptcy. Now, an Atlanta-based rapper known as Rolls Royce...more
3/24/2016
/ Corporate Counsel ,
Dilution ,
Lanham Act ,
Music Industry ,
Popular ,
Rolls-Royce ,
Social Media ,
Trademark Infringement ,
Trademark Litigation ,
Trademarks ,
Unfair Competition ,
Young Lawyers
We have written previously about the role of traditional discovery roles in “newer” platforms, and how social media content can be discoverable and used in litigation. What about using information from social media in jury...more
At its heart, social media’s purpose is sharing content; however, fair use can only take one so far. A recent case serves as yet another reminder to exercise caution when reposting content, and that, in a litigious society,...more
“Be careful what you post.” This may be the most obvious of social media commandments. Yet, it’s also true that it’s difficult to control the degree of public access to photos and messages posted on a social media platform,...more
Recently, we noted vulnerability issues from use of the Internet of Things and how that has come to impact the health industry. Recent events continue to highlight this development. Since the start of the year, there have...more
Frequent readers of our blog will recall that in prior posts on companies such as Uber, Ashley Madison and Twitter, we have stressed the importance of having a robust terms of service (TOS) agreement. In many instances, TOS,...more
In our recent post, Living in a Nonmaterial World: Determining IP Rights for Digital Data, we discussed the potential impact of the Federal Circuit decision in ClearCorrect v. ITC, 2014-1527, in which the appeals court held...more
The future of ride-sharing companies has hung in the balance for more than two years while class actions and labor complaints were pending against industry giants Uber, Lyft and others. The ride-sharing companies have...more
A recently published patent application filed by Twitter provides a possible glimpse into the future of social media and selfies—and it’s a future arriving on the wings of that poster child of modern technology, the unmanned...more
1/28/2016
/ Corporate Counsel ,
DMCA ,
Drones ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Popular ,
Registration Requirement ,
Safe Harbors ,
Selfies ,
Social Media ,
Twitter ,
Unmanned Aircraft Systems ,
Young Lawyers
Hours. Days. Weeks. Months. When it comes to acting on copyright infringement takedown notices, just how fast is fast enough for social media platforms? Some recent (and not-so-recent) cases reveal how difficult the question...more
The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) regulates U.S. trade and oversees Section 337 investigations that address unfair competition based on alleged infringement of intellectual property rights. The ITC has been a...more
We have previously discussed how the use of the hashtag in trademarks is continuously evolving. As it turns out, the latest evolutionary wrinkle might have started to form this past March, thanks to one of pop culture’s more...more
Last month, Google announced a groundbreaking policy that may help shift the balance of power between copyright claimants and those who upload YouTube videos that may be covered by fair use. According to Google’s Public...more
Patents related to games are facing new challenges for being too “abstract,” but a recent court ruling highlights the limits to this line of attack. Last year, the Supreme Court reinvigorated a body of law that defines the...more
In 2016, Niantic will blur the lines between our world and the world of Pokémon with the release of Pokémon GO, its upcoming augmented reality game for mobile phones, which will allow fans to see and interact with Pokémon in...more