On January 14, 2021, Southwest Airlines Co. (“Southwest”) filed a complaint in a Texas district court against an online travel site, Kiwi.com, Inc. (“Kiwi”), alleging, among other things, that Kiwi’s scraping of fare...more
Two recent web scraping disputes highlight some important issues regarding whether a website owner may successfully allege a breach of contract action against a commercial party that has scraped website content contrary to...more
7/11/2019
/ Actual or Constructive Knowledge ,
Breach of Contract ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Cease and Desist ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Forum Selection ,
Lanham Act ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
State Law Claims ,
Terms of Use ,
Unauthorized Access ,
Unfair Competition ,
Web Scraping ,
Website Owner Liability ,
Websites
Last month, a California district court granted a web-based service’s motion to compel arbitration of a putative class action brought by a user whose personal information was allegedly accessed in a massive 2016 data breach...more
This month, an Illinois district court considered another in the series of web scraping disputes that have been working their way through our courts. In this dispute, CouponCabin, Inc. v. PriceTrace, LLC, No. 18-7525 (N.D....more
This past week, an Illinois district court dismissed, with leave to amend, claims relating to a competitor’s alleged scraping of sales listings from a company’s website for use on its own site. (Alan Ross Machinery Corp. v....more
Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit issued a noteworthy ruling in a dispute between an enterprise software licensor and a third-party support provider. The case is particularly important as it addresses the common practice...more
1/25/2018
/ Breach of Contract ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
Unauthorized Access ,
Web Scraping ,
Websites
The controversial consumer gripe site, RipoffReport.com, is at it again. The First Circuit recently affirmed a lower court’s ruling that RipoffReport.com was entitled to immunity under Section 230 of the Communications...more
10/25/2017
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Defamation ,
Novell ,
Section 230 ,
Terms of Use ,
The Copyright Act ,
Third-Party Service Provider ,
User-Generated Content ,
Websites
This past summer, we wrote about two instances in which courts refused to enforce website terms presented in browsewrap agreements. As we noted, clickthrough agreements are generally more likely to be found to be enforced. ...more
11/22/2016
/ AirBnB ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Discrimination ,
Fair Housing Act (FHA) ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Motion to Compel ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Sharing Economy ,
Technology ,
Terms of Service ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Vacation Rentals ,
Website Design ,
Websites ,
Young Lawyers
In Nghiem v Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc., No. 16-00097 (C.D. Cal. July 5, 2016), the Central District of California held browsewrap terms to be unenforceable because the hyperlink to the terms was “sandwiched” between two...more
7/29/2016
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Class Action ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Motion to Compel ,
TCPA ,
Terms of Use ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Website Design ,
Websites ,
Young Lawyers
Many commercial websites rely on “browsewrap” agreements to bind visitors to commercial terms. A recent decision by the Ninth Circuit suggests that a review of how those terms are presented may be in order to ensure...more