For more than a half a century, the United States has provided a powerful tool to obtain U.S. style discovery in aid of foreign proceedings. For years the statute was seldom utilized. But, in recent years, there has been a...more
A recent decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a dispute between LinkedIn and hiQ Labs has spotlighted the thorny legal issues involved in unauthorized webscraping of data from public websites. While some may...more
A recent Second Circuit decision makes clear that the safe harbor that social media and other Internet companies enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act broadly applies to a wide variety of claims.
...more
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act continues to act as one of the strongest legal protections that social media companies have to avoid being saddled with crippling damage awards based on the misdeeds of their...more
In U.S. copyright law circles, one of the hottest topics of debate is the degree to which the fair use doctrine—which allows for certain unauthorized uses of copyrighted works—should protect companies building commercial...more
While reversing and remanding for a new trial in light of certain errors in the jury instructions, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has largely sided with the copyright holders in the dispute between BMG Rights Management...more
Following a recent decision from the Sixth Circuit, anonymous bloggers and other Internet users who post third-party copyrighted material without authorization have cause for concern. They may be unable to preserve their...more
Following a recent U.S. district court’s ruling, foreign companies operating cloud-based services may find themselves subject to federal long-arm jurisdiction under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 4(k)(2), even if they...more
Facebook’s four-year battle on behalf of its users, seeking to quash 381 warrants obtained by the New York County District Attorney’s Office, has come to a close. The decision of the New York Court of Appeals—which is New...more
Welcome to the newest edition of Socially Aware, our Burton Awardwinning guide to the law and business of social media.
In this edition, we explore the threat to U.S. jobs posed by rapid advances in emerging technologies;...more
4/21/2017
/ Communications Decency Act ,
Copyright ,
Cross-Device ,
DMCA ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Mobile Apps ,
Safe Harbors ,
Snapchat ,
Stored Communications Act ,
Technology Sector ,
Tracking Systems ,
Trump Administration ,
WhatsApp
Congress enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) nearly two decades ago seeking to balance the needs of two factions: Content creators, who were struggling to protect their intellectual property in the digital...more
Mixed Messages: Courts Grapple With Emoticons and Emoji -
Emoticon and emoji are ubiquitous in online and mobile communications; according to one study, 74 percent of Americans use emoticons, emoji and similar images...more
Because content posted online can be accessed nearly anywhere, courts regularly face the issue of whether they have personal jurisdiction over a defendant who posted material to the web or a social media site. Recently, one...more
How To Protect Your Company’s Social Media Currency -
Today’s companies compete not only for dollars but also for likes, followers, views, tweets, comments and shares. “Social currency,” as some researchers call it, is...more
4/29/2016
/ Clickwrap Agreements ,
Data Security ,
Digital Single Market ,
EU ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
Internet of Things ,
IP License ,
Online Reviews ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
Social Media ,
US-EU Safe Harbor Framework
It seems that almost everyone uses social media today. Of course, this means that most every juror is a social media user, and that courts are dealing with the thorny questions that arise out of the proliferation of social...more
4/28/2016
/ Google ,
Impartiality ,
Internet ,
Juror Misconduct ,
Jury Instructions ,
Jury Selection ,
Oracle ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Sixth Amendment ,
Social Media ,
Voir Dire
Attorneys often research adverse parties online to obtain potentially useful—and publicly available—evidence for use in a case. But, as an ethical matter, may an attorney access information available only through an...more
Welcome to the newest issue of Socially Aware, our Burton Award winning guide to the law and business of social media. In this edition, we offer tips for a successful—and legal—advertising campaign; we examine a New York...more
3/9/2016
/ Advertising ,
B2C ,
Big Data ,
Digital Goods ,
Discovery ,
Discovery Rule ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet Retailers ,
Marketing ,
Mobile Apps ,
Native Advertising ,
Social Media ,
Terms and Conditions ,
User-Generated Content
Courts have generally categorized such online agreements into two types: “clickwrap” agreements and “browsewrap” agreements.
Clickwrap agreements—which require a user to check a box or click an icon to signify agreement...more
While discovery of social media information has been commonplace for some time, courts are still struggling with when such discovery should be allowed. While courts generally hold that normal discovery rules apply to social...more
Five social media law issues to discuss with your clients -
The explosive growth of social media has clients facing legal questions that didn’t even exist a few short years ago. Helping your clients navigate this...more
10/15/2015
/ Anonymity ,
Anti-Retaliation Provisions ,
Blogging Platforms ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Class Action ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Customer Lists ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Defamation ,
Discovery ,
Discrimination ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Employee Privacy Rights ,
Employee Training ,
Enforceability ,
EULA ,
Evidence ,
Facebook ,
Facebook Friends ,
False Advertising ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Human Resources Professionals ,
Internal Investigations ,
Job Applicants ,
Mobile Apps ,
Motion to Compel ,
NLRA ,
NLRB ,
Online Endorsements ,
Online Reviews ,
Passwords ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Popular ,
Privacy Policy ,
Protected Class ,
Protected Concerted Activity ,
RadioShack ,
Representations and Warranties ,
Screening Procedures ,
Section 5 ,
Social Media ,
Social Media Account Ownership ,
Social Media Policy ,
Subpoenas ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Terms of Use ,
Third-Party ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Workplace Investigations
Judge Richard J. Walsh began his opinion in Largent v. Reed with the following question: “What if the people in your life want to use your Facebook posts against you in a civil lawsuit?” With the explosive growth of social...more
Welcome to the newest issue of Socially Aware, our Burton Award winning guide to the law and business of social media. In this edition, we present a “grand unifying theory” of today’s leading technologies and the legal...more
7/29/2015
/ Advertising ,
Consumer Bankruptcy ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Creditors ,
Data Collection ,
Data Storage Providers ,
Digital Assets ,
Discovery ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Evidence ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Hashtags ,
HBO ,
Live Streaming ,
Marketing ,
Online Reviews ,
Retail Tracking ,
Sanctions ,
Showtime ,
Social Media ,
Spoliation ,
Trademarks ,
Twitter ,
Yelp
While the question of whether specific records are within a party’s possession, custody or control has been heavily litigated for years, the digital revolution — with the advent of social media, cloud computing and mobile...more
As social media has become ubiquitous, courts are wrestling with more discovery disputes involving social media accounts.
In a recent case, Crowe v. Marquette Transportation Co. Gulf-Inland, LLC, the plaintiff...more
In This Issue:
- Court Protects Anonymity of Yelp Users
- FTC Issues Landmark Report on Internet of Things
- Who Will Update My Status When I’m Dead?: The Biggest Social Media Platforms’ Policies on...more
5/15/2015
/ Anonymity ,
Copyright ,
Digital Assets ,
DMCA ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Internet of Things ,
Mobile Devices ,
Online Reviews ,
Social Media ,
Social Networks ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Web Scraping ,
Web Tracking ,
Yelp