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Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

  • April 10, 2026

    NCAA, Turner Sports Seek Stay Of Website Tracking Case Pending 9th Circuit Appeal

    LOS ANGELES — The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and Turner Sports Interactive Inc. asked a California federal court to stay a proposed class action alleging unlawful web tracking under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) pending the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal’s forthcoming decision in Drummer v. CoStar Grp., Inc., which is expected to clarify whether similar third-party tracking allegations establish Article III standing and could be dispositive of the present action.

  • April 10, 2026

    Massachusetts High Court Rejects Section 230 Defense In Instagram Addiction Suit

    BOSTON — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on April 10 affirmed a trial court’s ruling denying dismissal by Meta Platforms Inc. and Instagram LLC in a suit filed against them by the commonwealth of Massachusetts alleging that Instagram’s design features cause addiction in youth, finding that interlocutory review is appropriate and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not bar the commonwealth’s claims because the alleged harm results from the way in which the platform is designed rather than the content of the information published.

  • April 10, 2026

    Partial Dismissal Granted In Class Suit Over DraftKings ‘Deceptive’ Advertising

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge dismissed in part a putative class action against DraftKings Inc., a gambling company that offers online betting, and related entities, asserting claims for violations of a Pennsylvania consumer protection law, unjust enrichment and intentional misrepresentation related to “deceptive” advertising for certain betting promotions, finding that some of the claims under state law failed because the plaintiffs did not show “ascertainable loss” and the losses asserted were “inherently speculative.”

  • April 10, 2026

    Judge Finds Mobile Game Patent Claims Invalid As Abstract, Tosses Suit

    WILMINGTON, Del. — A federal judge in Delaware granted a motion for a judgment on the pleadings from the maker of massively successful mobile phone video games like Pokémon GO, agreeing with the company that a patent asserted against the game studio was invalid for being directed at the abstract concept of determining a player’s location.

  • April 07, 2026

    Epic Seeks Reconsideration Of Order Staying Mandate In Antitrust Row With Apple

    SAN FRANCISCO — Epic Games Inc. on April 6 filed a motion for reconsideration of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals order issued the same day granting a motion by Apple Inc. to stay its mandate affirming a lower court judgment finding Apple in contempt of a court-ordered injunction enjoining Apple from certain anticompetitive practices on its App Store in an antitrust dispute with Epic.

  • April 02, 2026

    Protective Order Sought In Epstein Privacy Violation Suit Against Google, DOJ

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — An alleged victim of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein filed a motion in California federal court seeking a protective order to proceed under a pseudonym in her putative class suit alleging that U.S. Department of Justice violated the Privacy Act by wrongfully disclosing her personally identifiable information and that of other victims of Epstein when releasing files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act and that Google LLC continues to republish that information.

  • April 01, 2026

    Judge Tosses Law Firm Cyber Threats Insurance Dispute With Insurer Over $158K Wire

    GREENVILLE, Miss. — A Mississippi federal judge on March 31 dismissed without prejudice a suit filed by a law firm against its cyber threats insurer and related entities alleging breach of contract related to the insurer’s alleged refusal to cover a claim for a $158,425 fraudulent wire transfer, finding that there was no coverage under the policy’s social engineering coverage endorsement because the “facts alleged” by the firm “are not covered by the unambiguous language of the Social Engineering Endorsement.”

  • April 01, 2026

    Personalized Ads Patent Claim Invalid As Abstract, Appeals Court Agrees

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on March 31 held that a California federal judge correctly ruled that the asserted claim of a technology company that accused TikTok Inc. and related entities of infringement was invalid as abstract for lack of details on how to implement the claim; the panel agreed that the asserted claim does no more than describe the abstract concept of personalizing content based on a user’s profile.

  • March 27, 2026

    Judge Tosses X Corp. Suit Alleging Advertisers Engaged In Illegal Group Boycott

    WICHITA FALLS, Texas — A Texas federal judge on March 26 dismissed a suit filed by X Corp. against advertisers, alleging that they violated antitrust laws in boycotting the social media platform Twitter “abruptly and in lockstep, . . . by discontinuing entirely or substantially reducing their previously substantial advertising purchases,” finding that X Corp. failed to state an antitrust claim.

  • March 26, 2026

    N.M. Jury Assesses Penalties Of $375M In Facebook Consumer Law Violation Suit

    SANTA FE, N.M. — A New Mexico state court jury found Meta Platforms Inc. liable in a suit alleging that it violated state consumer protection laws, assessing $5,000 in penalties per violation, totaling $375 million for Meta’s alleged “refusal to implement design features that would protect children from sexual exploitation and mental health harm.”

  • March 26, 2026

    Jury Returns Verdict Of $6M In ‘Addiction’ Trial Against Meta, YouTube

    LOS ANGELES — A California state court jury on March 25 returned a verdict ordering Meta Platforms Inc. and YouTube LLC to pay $6 million in damages, comprising $3 million in compensatory damages and $2.1 million in punitive damages against Meta and $900,000 against YouTube, in a suit alleging that the social media platforms “breached their duty” to the plaintiff by failing to warn of “the risks associated with using the platforms” that led to “addiction.”

  • March 26, 2026

    Summary Judgment Affirmed In Favor Of Health Provider In Data-Sharing Dispute

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland appellate panel affirmed summary judgment in favor of a health care provider in a suit alleging that its website’s embedded tracking code unlawfully disclosed patient data, holding that the Maryland Electronic Surveillance Act’s definition of communication does not include the transmission of metadata such as IP addresses, cookie values and URL information.

  • March 25, 2026

    Federal Circuit Rejects Bid To Rethink Claims Nintendo Infringed Handheld Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rejected a gaming company’s petition for rehearing en banc or panel rehearing, leaving in place a panel’s January opinion that held that Nintendo Co. Ltd. does not infringe the plaintiff-appellant’s patent.

  • March 24, 2026

    Judge Dismisses All Claims Except Conversion In Google Gift Card Scam Suit

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted a motion to dismiss without leave to amend several claims, including for violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), against Google LLC and its affiliates for allegedly failing to protect customers from Google Play gift card scammers because most of the conduct alleged is not “attributable to Google,” declined to dismiss conversion-related claims and narrowed the class definition.

  • March 24, 2026

    $68M Settlement For Google Assistant Eavesdropping Claims Gets Preliminary OK

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge granted a motion for preliminary approval of a $68 million settlement of a group of plaintiffs’ putative class claims against Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. (collectively Google) for allegedly eavesdropping on Google Assistant (GA) users in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and privacy laws.

  • March 24, 2026

    5th Circuit Grants Petition, Vacates FTC Cease-And-Desist Order Over Intuit Ads

    NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted a petition filed by Intuit Inc., the seller of online tax preparation product TurboTax, and vacated a 20-year cease-and-desist order issued by the Federal Trade Commission preventing Intuit from advertising any services as free, finding that the administrative law judge proceeding resulting in the order violated the separation of powers under Article III of the U.S. Constitution because deceptive advertising suits involve private rights requiring adjudication in federal court.

  • March 24, 2026

    Judge Grants In Part Insured’s Motion To Compel In Cyber Crime Coverage Suit

    DALLAS — A federal judge in Dallas granted in part an insured’s motion to compel an insurer to provide deposition testimony, answer interrogatories and produce “privileged” documents in a coverage dispute arising from a criminal cyberattack, concluding that the insured has established a possibility that testimony as to underwriting may be relevant to a claim or defense and the insurer has failed to demonstrate that the documents it withheld satisfy the elements of attorney-client privilege or are entitled to work product protection.

  • March 23, 2026

    Judge Dismisses Publishers’ AI Antitrust Tying Claims Against Google

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two news publishers are not in the general search services marketplace and have not established that general Google LLC search and its artificial intelligence products AI Overviews or Gemini chatbot are separate products for antitrust tying purposes, a federal judge in the District of Columbia said March 20 in dismissing antitrust claims.

  • March 23, 2026

    FCC: Constitution Allows Forfeiture Orders In Verizon, AT&T High Court Challenge

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. government on March 20 filed their response in the U.S. Supreme Court in consolidated cases where Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. assert constitutional challenges to the FCC’s enforcement of monetary forfeitures under the Communications Act.

  • March 23, 2026

    Cert Denied In Class Ad Market Antitrust Violations Dispute Against Apple, Google

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on March 23 denied a petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a professional certification school seeking review of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ affirmance of a lower court’s ruling compelling arbitration and dismissing a class action antitrust suit alleging that Google and Apple violated state and federal antitrust laws by unlawfully agreeing to divide online search and search advertising markets.

  • March 20, 2026

    4th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Communications Act Suit Against T-Mobile

    RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on March 19 affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of an internet services provider’s Communications Act violation suit against T-Mobile alleging network interference, finding that the “claim is barred by that statute’s election-of-remedies provision” because the provider had already filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.

  • March 18, 2026

    Minors Sue XAI Over Grok’s Alleged Creation Of Illegal Nude Images

    SAN FRANCISCO — Three minors filed a putative class action lawsuit in California federal court against x.AI Corp. and x.AI LLC (collectively, xAI) over the alleged creation by its generative AI tool Grok of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) using their images seeking injunctive relief and damages against xAI for violation of CSAM laws as well as California’s unfair competition law (UCL), saying “[t]heir lives have been shattered” by the images being spread online.

  • March 18, 2026

    Reconsideration Of Discovery Orders Denied In Search Monopoly Dispute With Google

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge denied reconsideration of orders denying requests to extend the deadline for expert reports and mostly denying requests to depose individuals in a group of internet search engine users’ suit asserting antitrust claims against Google LLC and related parties regarding allegations of a general search services monopoly.

  • March 18, 2026

    Roblox Plaintiff Didn’t Waive Mental Health Records Privilege, Magistrate Says

    EUREKA, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge denied Roblox Corp.’s request to compel production of the mental health records of a minor who is one of the class representatives in a suit alleging that Roblox and third-party websites allowed minors to gamble using the digital currency “Robux,” opining that the plaintiffs did not waive privilege over therapy records regarding the minor’s gambling addiction and theft from family members.

  • March 18, 2026

    Tesla Says Certified Class Did Not Prove Members Saw ‘Self-Driving’ Claim

    SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla Inc. and its affiliates ask the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in an appellant brief to reverse the certification of a class action against them for violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws by misrepresenting the capabilities of Tesla vehicles’ “self-driving” technology, writing that the plaintiff did not present sufficient evidence that purchasers were exposed to allegedly false statements.