Newsletter RSS

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

  • February 27, 2026

    Judge Dismisses xAI’s Employee Poaching, Trade Secrets Claims Against OpenAI

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge granted OpenAI Inc.’s motion to dismiss an amended complaint in which xAI accused competitor OpenAI of violating the Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) and California’s unfair competition law (UCL), writing that xAI’s allegations relate to the conduct of eight former employees who left for OpenAI but not “any misconduct by OpenAI.”

  • February 27, 2026

    S.C. Governor’s Bid To Intervene Granted In NetChoice Social Media Law Challenge

    COLUMBIA, S.C. — In a docket-only order, a South Carolina federal judge granted South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s motion to intervene in internet trade association NetChoice’s suit alleging that a state social media monitoring law regarding minors violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, finding that the governor satisfied the standards required for intervention, including the standard regarding his ability to protect his interests absent intervention.

  • February 26, 2026

    Magistrate Tosses Broadband Association Suit Over California Regulatory Control

    SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal magistrate judge dismissed a declaratory judgment suit brought by a broadband providers trade association challenging the California Public Utilities Commission decision adopting regulations for Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers, finding that the association failed to rebut the presumption against preemption of California’s ability to regulate intrastate services.

  • February 26, 2026

    Split Federal Circuit Affirms PTAB Rejection Of Tesla’s Challenge To EV Patent

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A split Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel said in a Feb. 25 opinion that it agreed with the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that Tesla Inc. failed to show that certain claims in another company’s patent on a system of charging electric vehicles were unpatentable as obvious.

  • February 25, 2026

    Federal Circuit Finds Another AI Patent Directed At Abstract Concepts

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — A Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel affirmed a New York federal judge’s decision to grant summary judgment in favor of Amazon.com Inc. on claims brought by a technology company that accused Amazon of infringing its patent on a type of machine learning; the panel agreed in its Feb. 24 opinion that the plaintiff-appellant’s patent claims were ineligible as abstract.

  • February 25, 2026

    Judge Grants Meta’s Bid To File Amended Answer In Facial Recognition Software Suit

    EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — An Illinois federal judge granted a motion by Meta Platforms Inc. seeking leave to file a second amended answer and defenses in a putative class action suit alleging violations of a state privacy law regarding Meta’s collecting biometric information using facial recognition software through its Facebook messenger and messenger kids applications, finding in part that Meta used due diligence in researching its defenses.

  • February 20, 2026

    Verizon, AT&T Tell High Court That FCC Forfeiture ‘Scheme’ Violates 7th Amendment

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — In consolidated cases before the U.S. Supreme Court asserting constitutional challenges to the Federal Communications Commission’s enforcement of  monetary forfeitures under the Communications Act, Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. argue that “[t]he FCC’s in-house forfeiture scheme violates the Seventh Amendment and Article III” of the U.S. Constitution when “used to adjudicate legal disputes.”

  • February 20, 2026

    Judge Continues Bellwether ‘Addiction’ Trial Against Meta, Social Media Platforms

    LOS ANGELES — A California state court judge issued a minute order continuing a bellwether jury trial against Meta Platforms Inc. and related entities and other social media companies including TikTok Ltd., Google LLC and YouTube LLC, alleging that the defendants “had a duty to disclose dangerous and defective features that cause foreseeable harm to children and teens” and should have known about the risks of “addiction.”

  • February 20, 2026

    23andMe Data Breach MDL Dismissed After Settlements Approved In Bankruptcy Court

    The California federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation against 23andMe Inc. and affiliates for a data breach in which millions of customers’ genetic data and personally identifiable information (PII) was hacked entered an order dismissing the MDL, following the final approval in Missouri federal bankruptcy court of a settlement worth up to $50 million to resolve U.S. customers’ claims against 23andMe and the final approval of a  $3.25 million settlement for Canadian class members.

  • February 19, 2026

    11th Circuit Affirms Sanctions Denial In Flight Attendant Internet Defamation Suit

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling denying sanctions against a flight attendant and her attorney in her suit accusing a coworker of defamation by posting statements on the internet regarding the flight attendant’s alleged participation in the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, finding that the lower court was not required to issue sanctions in the case.

  • February 19, 2026

    StubHub Largely Granted Summary Judgment In Consumers’ Pandemic Cancellation Case

    OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted StubHub Inc.’s summary judgment motion as to the three remaining California law claims brought by a putative class of consumers seeking injunctive relief or restitution related to the company’s refund policy changes implemented for events canceled or rescheduled due to the coronavirus pandemic; the judge deferred ruling on claims in the multidistrict litigation seeking monetary damages to allow the parties to file briefs about why the claims should or shouldn’t be compelled to arbitration.

  • February 19, 2026

    2nd Circuit Rejects Objections To New York Times Auto-Renewal Settlement

    NEW YORK — The Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s approval of a $2,375,000 settlement to be paid by The New York Times Co. to end a class complaint accusing the newspaper publisher of engaging in an illegal “automatic renewal” scheme over objections by a California attorney who has both litigated class actions and participated in a number of class actions as an objector.

  • February 17, 2026

    Delaware High Court: Insurers Properly Pleaded Claim In Suit Over Ransomware Attack

    DOVER, Del. — The Delaware Supreme Court held Feb. 13 that insurers have adequately pleaded a breach of contract claim in their subrogation lawsuit seeking recovery from an application service provider for the amount they paid to nonprofit insureds for investigative and remediation steps arising from a ransomware attack, reversing a lower court’s grant of the provider’s motion to dismiss the insurers’ amended complaint and remanding.

  • February 13, 2026

    3rd Circuit Affirms Ruling Dismissing Constitutional Challenge To N.J. 3D Gun Law

    PHILADELPHIA — The Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 12 affirmed a lower court’s ruling dismissing a suit filed by a publisher of 3D gun printing files and a gun rights advocacy group challenging New Jersey’s law prohibiting the distribution of those files to state residents who are not licensed gun manufacturers, finding in part that the publisher and advocacy group lack standing absent allegations that they were prevented from making “a 3D printed firearm” and that the complaint was deficient in alleging harm.

  • February 13, 2026

    Judge Grants Alternative Service Motion In Star Trek E-Commerce Trademark Dispute

    MIAMI — A Florida federal judge on Feb. 12 granted CBS’s motion for alternative service of process in a trademark infringement suit against an alleged Singapore-based e-commerce retailer accused of infringement regarding Star Trek intellectual property rights, finding that alternative service through email and website posting will reasonably provide the retailer an opportunity to respond to the suit.

  • February 13, 2026

    11th Circuit Affirms Judgment For Lyft In Negligence Suit Over Shooting By Driver

    ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s grant of summary judgment for rideshare platform Lyft in a passenger’s suit alleging negligence per se after he incurred permanent injuries when a Lyft driver shot him, finding that “there was no dispute that Lyft complied with the Georgia for-hire rideshare provision” regarding background checks.

  • February 10, 2026

    1st Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Negligence Suit Against Gun Marketplace Company

    BOSTON — The First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed in part a New Hampshire federal court’s ruling dismissing for lack of personal jurisdiction a former police officer and his wife’s negligence suit against a company that operates an online marketplace for firearms, finding “no basis for disturbing the District Court's purposeful-availment ruling insofar as it does not relate to” additional evidence provided by the couple.

  • February 09, 2026

    Magistrate Grants Stipulation In Meta Social Media Addiction Discovery Dispute

    OAKLAND, Calif. — After parties filed a joint stipulation regarding discovery documents, a California federal magistrate judge issued an order granting the stipulation, which established that documents Meta Platforms Inc. agreed to produce constitute all documents currently at issue in a product liability multidistrict litigation over the purported addictive qualities for adolescents of several of the largest social media platforms.

  • February 06, 2026

    Motion To Compel Arbitration Granted In Credit Dispute Involving Online Terms

    LAS VEGAS — A Nevada federal judge granted a motion to compel arbitration by a credit reporting agency in a putative class action alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) related to inaccurate credit reporting of student loan debt, finding that the website containing the arbitration agreement provided sufficient notice of that agreement.

  • February 04, 2026

    Judge Denies Google Users’ Bid For $2.36B, Won’t Decertify Data-Gathering Classes

    SAN FRANCISCO — Following a California federal jury’s award of $425 million to two classes of mobile device users against Google LLC for tracking their online activity after telling them that it would not, a judge denied a posttrial motion by the plaintiffs for a permanent injunction and disgorgement of $2.36 billion of Google’s profits allegedly from “misconduct” and denied a motion by Google to decertify the plaintiffs’ classes.

  • February 04, 2026

    DOJ Files Statement Of Interest In ADA ‘Violation’ Online Retailer Class Suit

    OAKLAND, Calif. — The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a statement of interest urging a California federal court to reject an amended settlement in which an online clothing retailer agreed to pay a gross settlement amount of $5.15 million in a putative class action alleging that the retailer violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and similar California law by not designing its website to be accessible to blind or visually-impaired persons.

  • February 03, 2026

    23andMe Bankruptcy Judge Approves $50M Settlement; Data Breach MDL To Be Dismissed

    The parties to multidistrict litigation in California federal court against 23andMe Inc. and affiliates for a data breach in which millions of customers’ genetic data and personally identifiable information (PII) was hacked filed a joint status report on Feb. 2 stating the plaintiffs will move to dismiss the MDL following the final approval in Missouri federal bankruptcy court of a settlement worth up to $50 million to resolve U.S. customers’ claims against 23andMe, with 25% allocated for attorney fees.

  • February 03, 2026

    Roblox Players’ Parents Seek Quick Affirmance Of Arbitration Dispute

    SAN FRANCISCO — The parents of minor users of Roblox Corp.’s gaming platform asked the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to summarily affirm a California federal judge’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration or dismiss brought by the developer of the now-defunct “Bloxflip” third-party game where children could allegedly gamble with their digital “Robux,” arguing that the developer never presented evidence that players saw his arbitration agreement.

  • February 03, 2026

    Google Assistant Users Seek Approval Of $68M Settlement For Eavesdropping Claims

    SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge terminated a hearing date after a group of plaintiffs moved for preliminary approval of a $68 million settlement of their 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.

  • February 03, 2026

    Women’s Dating Advice App Seeks To Dismiss ‘Hyperbolic’ Data Hack Complaint

    SAN FRANCISCO — The developer of the “Tea” women’s app for posting information about men in the dating market moved in California federal court to dismiss putative class claims against it for violation of federal privacy laws and state laws including California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after its database of users’ identity-verification and driver’s license photos was hacked, writing that the plaintiffs suffered no injury and fail to state a claim.