Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

  • May 15, 2026

    Parents Claim ChatGPT’s Advice Led To 19-Year-Old’s Drug Overdose, Death

    SAN FRANCISCO — ChatGPT advised a 19-year-old college student to take a combination of drugs that ultimately led to his accidental overdose death, his parents allege in a California lawsuit alleging strict liability, negligence, practice of medicine without a license and violation of the California unfair competition law (UCL).

  • May 15, 2026

    Judge Reinstates Verdict Of Over $25M In Software Companies’ Trade Secrets Row

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — In a case on remand from the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, a California federal judge on May 14 reinstated a jury verdict awarding an employee feedback software company more than $25 million in its trade secret dispute with an employee survey software and analytics company, finding that the original judgment that implemented the jury verdict awarding “$11.7 million in compensatory damages and $14 million in exemplary damages” for trade secret misappropriation is correct.

  • May 15, 2026

    Product Liability, UCL Claims Unsupported In Chatbot Suit, Google Says

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — The dynamic outputs created by artificial intelligence chatbots are not suitable targets for products liability actions, and a father has not alleged any basis for his California unfair competition law (UCL) claims, Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. argue in a May 15 motion seeking to dismiss a suit attempting to hold them liable for his son’s suicide.

  • May 15, 2026

    Florida Panel Affirms Dismissal Of Negligent Misrepresentation Suit Against Lyft

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Florida appellate court affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of a suit filed by a passenger of ride-sharing service Lyft against Lyft Florida Inc., alleging negligent and fraudulent misrepresentation regarding safety features of the platform after being purportedly assaulted by a driver booked through Lyft’s platform, finding that Florida law provides for transportation network company immunity.

  • May 13, 2026

    Dismissal Denied In Uber, FedEx Suit Alleging Fraudulent Personal Injury Scheme

    PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania federal judge found that ride-sharing company Uber Technologies Inc. and Federal Express Corp. (FedEx) sufficiently showed that certain lawyers directed medical providers “to produce fraudulent medical records which informed their demands for compensation far beyond the actual injuries,” and denied a motion to dismiss the case alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) related to an alleged scheme to litigate fraudulent personal injury claims in Philadelphia state court related to motor vehicle accidents involving Uber and FedEx drivers.

  • May 12, 2026

    Texas Sues Netflix, Alleging Data Sharing Consumer Protection Law Violations

    MCKINNEY, Texas — Texas on May 11 filed a petition in Texas state court against Netflix Inc., asserting that the streaming service violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act (DTPA) by misrepresenting that it did not share users’ data when instead it mined users’ data and shared it with commercial data brokers and advertising technology companies.

  • May 12, 2026

    Widow Alleges ChatGPT Encouraged Florida State Shooting

    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Phoenix Ikner’s extensive conversations with ChatGPT would have tipped off any reasonable person to the fact that he was planning a mass school shooting, but OpenAI entities either ignored the warning signs or never implemented the measures needed to recognize them, a widow claims in the latest lawsuit tying OpenAI entities to a shooting.

  • May 08, 2026

    Motion To Compel Discovery Of Text Messages Partially Granted In Fire Coverage Row

    DENVER — A Colorado federal magistrate judge on May 7 granted in part a motion to compel discovery of certain text messages sent by a woman whose company sued its business owner’s insurer for breach of contract for its purported failure to cover a claim for fire damage to her retail store, finding in part that privacy considerations related to the text messages are outweighed by the need to view them in connection with an arson investigation related to the fire.

  • May 07, 2026

    U.S. High Court Denies Apple’s Bid To Stay Contempt Mandate In Antitrust Dispute

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on May 6 denied Apple Inc.’s application to stay a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversal of its order staying a mandate regarding a contempt judgment against Apple over anticompetitive practices on its App Store in an antitrust dispute with Epic Games Inc.

  • May 06, 2026

    Epic Responds To Apple’s Stay Application In U.S. Supreme Court In Antitrust Row

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — Epic Games Inc. on May 6 filed a response to Apple Inc.’s application in the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to stay a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ reversal of its order staying a mandate regarding a contempt judgment against Apple over anticompetitive practices on its App Store in an antitrust dispute with Epic.

  • May 06, 2026

    Panel Agrees: Mobile Tech Patent Claims Abstract In Complaint Targeting Google

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel on May 5 affirmed a California federal judge’s finding that mobile device technology patent claims asserted in an infringement suit against Google LLC were invalid as directed at the abstract concept of screening notifications without an additional inventive concept.

  • May 06, 2026

    Plaintiffs Seek Approval Of $250M Settlement Over Apple’s Misleading AI Claims

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — The plaintiffs representing a putative class of consumers who say they were misled into overpaying for Apple Inc.’s latest iPhone models based on Apple’s misrepresentations about the artificial intelligence capabilities that the iPhone 16’s “Apple Intelligence” and Siri software would offer moved May 5 for preliminary approval of a $250 million settlement, with an estimated $70 million in attorney fees, to resolve their claims that Apple violated California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws.

  • May 06, 2026

    Minn. High Court Finds Geofence Warrant Violated State Constitution, Remands

    ST. PAUL, Minn. — In a divided decision, the Minnesota Supreme Court held that a geofence warrant used in a homicide investigation violated the state constitution’s particularity requirement and, in what it described as its first consideration of the constitutionality of such warrants, ruled that although geofence warrants are not categorically unconstitutional, the warrant at issue impermissibly granted law enforcement discretion to expand the scope of the search, reversing an appellate court decision and remanding for further proceedings.

  • May 04, 2026

    3rd Circuit Reverses In RICO Suit Alleging Internet Filing Of False Documentation

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed and remanded a lower court ruling dismissing a woman’s suit alleging Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations and Pennsylvania state law claims related to underlying suits involving a bankruptcy and a wage dispute, finding that the lower court erred in its determinations that the woman failed to allege racketeering activity and that alleged false internet filings in the underlying suits constituted intrastate wires.

  • May 04, 2026

    Amazon, Port Of Morrow Groundwater Contamination Suits Won’t Be Consolidated

    PENDLETON, Ore. — A federal judge in Oregon, in denying a motion to consolidate two similar, pending lawsuits involving the alleged contamination of groundwater in the Lower Umatilla Basin by Amazon Data Services (ADS), the Port of Morrow and several agricultural companies in violation of state law and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), held that “the judicial economy does not require consolidation” of the cases and opined that joining them could prejudice the defendants.

  • May 01, 2026

    Ad Patent Claims Properly Construed, Invalidated, Federal Circuit Finds

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) correctly construed two disputed claim terms during inter partes review (IPR) proceedings initiated by Google LLC, a Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel held April 30; the appeals court rejected the plaintiff-appellant technology company’s claim that PTAB violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) by providing an analysis that does not enable Federal Circuit review.

  • April 30, 2026

    Tate Brothers’ Lawsuit Against Meta For Social Media Bans Dismissed By Judge

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by controversial social media influencers Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan seeking more than $50 million from Meta Platforms Inc. for terminating their social media accounts and allegedly defaming them in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws without leave to amend, opining that the Tates failed to allege facts overcoming Meta’s immunity as a digital publisher.

  • April 30, 2026

    Dismissal Denied In FTC Suit Over Alleged Violations Of Ticketmaster Purchase Limits

    BALTIMORE — A Maryland federal judge denied dismissal of the Federal Trade Commission’s suit against Key Investment Group LLC, its subsidiary TotalTickets.com LLC and related entities and individuals, alleging that the defendants violated the Better Online Ticket Sales Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act by circumventing technology controls to exceed ticket purchasing limits, finding that the Better Online Ticket Sales Act is not unconstitutionally vague.

  • April 30, 2026

    Families: OpenAI, Sam Altman Ignored Warnings Leading Up To School Shooting

    SAN FRANCISCO — Samuel Altman and various OpenAI entities took no action even as employees warned them that a ChatGPT user posed a real-world threat.  It was a prescient warning brought to life when just months later the user allegedly killed eight people as part of a school shooting in British Columbia, families claim in a series of seven complaints filed April 29 alleging negligence, strict product liability and violation of the California unfair competition law (UCL).

  • April 29, 2026

    9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Class Suit Against Meta Over Facebook Content

    SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 28 affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing a putative class action suit against Meta Platforms Inc. alleging that anti-Rohingya content on Facebook incited violence against the plaintiffs and their villages in Myanmar and that Meta breached its duty of care to avoid injury to others, finding that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act barred the plaintiffs’ claims because the content at issue was third-party content.

  • April 29, 2026

    Judge Tosses Complaint For No Standing In Privacy Breach Suit Against Paramount

    RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California federal judge dismissed a putative class action suit against Paramount Skydance Corp. and Pluto Inc. alleging that they unlawfully collected and disclosed minors’ personally identifiable information to third parties, including Alphabet Inc. (Google) and Microsoft Corp., in violation of federal and state privacy laws, finding that the parents who sued on behalf of their minor children failed to establish standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution.

  • April 28, 2026

    8th Circuit Certifies Question In Insurer’s Strict Liability Suit Against Amazon

    ST. LOUIS — The Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on April 27 determined that the Minnesota Supreme Court should determine the novel legal issue of “whether, under Minnesota law, Amazon is strictly liable for a defective product it offered, stored, and shipped, even though someone else was the seller,” noting that the Minnesota high court “has not decided a significant chain-of-commerce strict-liability case involving a retailer since pre-internet times” and that the panel “would be wading into murky waters” if it tried to guess what the Minnesota high court would decide.

  • April 28, 2026

    Judge: Newsmax Engaged In ‘Forum Shopping’ In Cable Distributors Suit Against Fox

    MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin federal judge granted a motion to transfer a suit filed by Newsmax Broadcasting LLC against Fox News Network LLC and Fox Corp. alleging violations of the Sherman Act and related Wisconsin law regarding Fox’s purported use of its “market power to coerce distributors into not carrying or into marginalizing other right-leaning news channels, including Newsmax,” finding that the suit should be transferred to the Southern District of Florida in part because Newsmax is a Florida-based company and failed to show why the case should be “tried in Wisconsin.”

  • April 24, 2026

    Epstein Victim Can Bring Class Data Privacy Claims Anonymously, Magistrate Says

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal magistrate judge granted a request to proceed anonymously by a Jane Doe plaintiff seeking to represent “Jeffrey Epstein survivors” whose personally identifiable information was disclosed by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in her putative class action against the United States and Google LLC for violating federal privacy laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL).

  • April 24, 2026

    High Court Distributes Petition For Conference In CDA Violations Suit Against X

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court distributed for conference a petition for a writ of certiorari by two John Does seeking review of a Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling finding that Twitter Inc. (now known as X Corp.) is immune pursuant to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) to federal law claims and some product liability claims related to allegations that Twitter allowed child pornography to stay on the social media platform.