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

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

February 11, 2025
Enforcement Of Settlement, Attorney Fees In GoDaddy TCPA Class Case Denied

MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge in Alabama denied a motion to enforce a Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class settlement with GoDaddy.com LLC, writing that the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a July 2024 opinion vacated the District Court’s settlement approval as well as its ruling on attorney fees, clearing the way for the web hosting company to terminate the agreement.
February 10, 2025
Parents Of Deceased U.K. Children Sue TikTok Over Blackout Challenge, Designs

WILMINGTON, Del. — Four parents of deceased minors who resided in the United Kingdom filed a wrongful death suit in a Delaware state court against TikTok LLC, its subsidiary TikTok Inc. and their parent company, ByteDance Inc., alleging that the defendants “engineered addiction-by-design and programming decisions aimed at pushing children into maximizing their engagement with TikTok by any means necessary,” resulting in their children participating in a blackout challenge that purportedly caused their deaths.
February 07, 2025
Dismissal Denied In Internet Defamation Case Over Lobster Sustainability Rating

PORTLAND, Maine — A Maine federal judge on Feb. 6 denied a motion to dismiss filed by a nonprofit organization that publishes sustainability ratings for seafood, including lobster, in a suit accusing it of defamation related to its assigning a negative environmentally sustainability rating for Maine lobster, finding that the complaint alleges sufficient facts to “survive” the dismissal motion as to Maine’s anti-SLAPP statute and sufficiently asserts that the nonprofit acted negligently in publishing information about the rating.
February 06, 2025
IBM To High Court: 5th Circuit’s Contract Ruling Unrelated To Copyrights

WASHINGTON, D.C. — International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) told the U.S. Supreme Court on Feb. 5 that it should not grant a petitioner company’s request for a writ of certiorari because there was no error when the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed a $1.6 billion award in a contract dispute between the companies.
February 05, 2025
4th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Tort Suit Against Meta Over ‘Harmful Content’

RICHMOND, Va. — The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 4 affirmed a lower court’s ruling dismissing claims for negligence and federal civil rights violation claims against Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) regarding its “harmful content” for damages allegedly caused by Facebook’s algorithm that recommends third-party content to users, finding in part that the state tort law claims are barred by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) and some of the federal claims are barred by the statute of limitations.
February 05, 2025
CrowdStrike Says Stranded Travelers’ Claims Against It Are Preempted

AUSTIN, Texas — Tech company CrowdStrike Inc. on Feb. 4 filed a motion in Texas federal court to dismiss or strike a putative class complaint brought against it by travelers who accuse it of negligence for allegedly leaving them stranded in airports by causing 8.5 million computers to crash in one day, writing that federal law preempts such claims.
February 05, 2025
9th Circuit Hears Oral Argument In Antitrust Dispute Over Google Play App Monopoly

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral argument in an antitrust dispute over a lower court’s entry of judgment in favor of Epic Games Inc. and issuance of an injunction, which among other things prohibits Google from requiring the use of Google Play Billing in apps distributed on Google Play Store.
February 04, 2025
High Court Ruling Sought On Grievance, Tolling In Social Media, Suspension Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A police officer filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking consideration of tolling and grievance questions after a Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled that the officer’s claims that his suspension over Facebook posts constituted First Amendment violations under 42 U.S. Code Section 1983 failed to show that the clock on his claims was stalled while he challenged his suspension or that the applicable one-year prescriptive period was interrupted by two state court petitions.
February 04, 2025
Nicaragua Can’t Use Email, WhatsApp To Serve Debtors Owing $1.5M In Attorney Fees

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a motion by the Republic of Nicaragua for leave to use alternative service to serve respondents abroad against whom it seeks to enforce an International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) award worth more than $1.5 million in attorney fees for an oil investment arbitration it won, writing that Nicaragua did not prove that such service was warranted.
February 03, 2025
Trade Association Seeks Reversal In Calif. Social Media Parental Consent Law Row

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A nationwide trade association for internet companies filed an opening brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, asking the court to reverse the portions of a lower court ruling denying a preliminary injunction to prevent the enforcement of a California law requiring parental consent for minors to access personalized feeds on social media after the trial court held that certain portions of the law do not violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
February 03, 2025
User Dismisses Class Suit Claiming LinkedIn Trained AI On Users’ Private Messages

SAN FRANCISCO — Less than two weeks after filing a putative class action in California federal court accusing LinkedIn of violating federal law and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by accessing its premium users’ private messages to train artificial intelligence models without their consent, the plaintiff, a premium user of LinkedIn’s professional networking and social media site, filed a notice of voluntary dismissal without prejudice.
February 03, 2025
Meta’s Mandamus Petition Denied By Nev. High Court In Social Media Addiction Suit

CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada Supreme Court issued an order denying petitions for writs of mandamus and prohibition filed by Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) after a lower court partially dismissed the state’s three similar suits asserting claims for violation of common-law tort and anticompetition law related to allegations of Meta’s services Messenger, Facebook and Instagram publishing third-party content and causing teenagers to purportedly become addicted to those services, holding that the court is “not persuaded that our extraordinary intervention is warranted.”
January 31, 2025
Meta Settles Trump 1st Amendment ‘De-Platform’ Suit Against It For $25 Million

SAN FRANCISCO — A notice of settlement was filed, and a spokesperson for Meta Platforms Inc. (formerly Facebook Inc.) on Jan. 30 confirmed reporting that Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle a putative class action filed in 2021 against it and CEO Mark Zuckerberg by President Donald J. Trump and putative class members alleging that they were “de-platformed or censored” from Facebook.
January 30, 2025
Spotify’s Subscription Is A ‘Bundle’ For Royalty Purposes, Judge Finds

NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Jan. 29 dismissed with prejudice a government-appointed music license administrator’s copyright lawsuit brought against music streamer Spotify USA Inc., holding that the license administrator failed to show how Spotify violated copyright law by reporting its “Premium” subscription product as a “bundled subscription offering” instead of simply a “subscription offering.”
January 30, 2025
Judge Confirms Hong Kong Award Worth More Than $800K For Unpaid Loan

WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware federal judge granted a Cypriot company’s motion for default judgment confirming a Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) worth more than $800,000 against a Delaware entity that did not appear in court or participate in arbitration after failing to make required payments under a convertible loan agreement.
January 29, 2025
Texas Federal Judge Denies Google’s Dismissal Motion In Ad Monopolization Suit

SHERMAN, Texas — A Texas federal judge on Jan. 28 denied a dismissal motion by Google LLC asserting that the plaintiff states lack standing in a suit accusing Google of antitrust and deceptive practices related to digital advertising, finding that the states sufficiently alleged facts to show parens patriae standing.
January 28, 2025
Motion To Strike Denied In Defamation Suit Over YouTube Russian Spy Allegations

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge denied a motion to strike the complaint in a Russian émigré’s defamation suit against administrators of a YouTube channel that offers assistance to Russians who want to move to the United States, finding that the émigré sufficiently stated a defamation claim regarding allegations that the administrators “falsely” accused her on their YouTube channel of being a Russian spy.
January 27, 2025
Judge Grants Preliminary Approval To $7.5M ‘Virtual Diamonds’ Refund Settlement

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted preliminary approval to a settlement of putative class claims brought against a mobile casino games developer by two players who accused the developer of violating California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and state gambling laws under which “Virtual Diamonds” worth a total of $7.5 million will be distributed to an estimated 1.2 million customers.
January 24, 2025
Trump Issues Executive Order Prohibiting Issuing Central Bank Digital Currencies

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald J. Trump on Jan. 23 issued an executive order protecting the ability of people and entities to access “public blockchain networks without persecution” and prohibiting agencies from issuing or promoting Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) in the United States “or abroad.”
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.