An advertising executive who lost his job after being named on an anonymous Instagram account is suing the now-defunct account for defamation. The suit names as defendants not only the account—Diet Madison Avenue, which was...more
If a web server located outside the United States hosts video content that can be viewed by Internet users located in the United States, does a public performance result under U.S. copyright law?...more
On June 6, 2018, the Commercial Court of Vienna decided in favor of private broadcaster Puls4 and determined that YouTube qualified as directly liable for copyright infringing video uploads of its users. If maintained, the...more
I confess: I have mixed emotions regarding the iconic “monkey-selfie” photo and all the hubbub it has created.
Don’t get me wrong; I think monkeys are wonderful, and the photo deserves its iconic status. Who can resist...more
Based on copyright infringement, emotional distress and other claims, a federal district court in California awarded $6.4 million to a victim of revenge porn, the posting of explicit material without the subject’s consent....more
In a decision that has generated considerable controversy, a federal court in New York has held that the popular practice of embedding tweets into websites and blogs can result in copyright infringement. Plaintiff Justin...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
Happy 2018 to our readers! It has become a Socially Aware tradition to start the New Year with some predictions from our editors and contributors. With smart contracts on the horizon, the Internet of Things and...more
1/6/2018
/ Blockchain ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Litigation ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EU ,
Fair Use ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Internet of Things ,
Online Advertisements ,
Patent Litigation ,
Privacy Policy ,
Safe Harbors ,
Smart Contracts ,
Token Sales ,
UK Brexit ,
Web Scraping
In the classic rock song “Light My Fire,” ‘60s icon and the Doors’ lead singer Jim Morrison sang, “The time to hesitate is through.”
If your company operates a website or blog that hosts user-generated content, and has yet...more
12/14/2017
/ Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Office ,
Digital Media ,
DMCA ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Safe Harbors ,
Social Media ,
Third-Party Risk ,
User-Generated Content ,
Websites
We discussed last year the trend toward companies seeking to monetize user-generated content. A recent Central District of California decision in Greg Young Publishing, Inc. v. Zazzle, Inc. serves as an important reminder of...more
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a North Carolina law that the state has used to prosecute more than 1,000 sex offenders for posting on social media is unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment....more
6/26/2017
/ Certiorari ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Copyright ,
DMCA ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Fair Use ,
First Amendment ,
Hate Speech ,
SCOTUS ,
Sex Offenders ,
Social Media ,
YouTube
One year since agreeing with the European Commission to remove hate speech within 24 hours of receiving a complaint about it, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube are removing flagged content an average of 59% of the...more
With over one billion websites on the Internet, and 211 million items of online content created every minute, it should come as no surprise that content curation is one of the hottest trends in the Internet industry. We are...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
Without Google’s permission, Burger King ended one of its television commercials with a statement designed to automatically cause Google Assistant devices to read a list of the Whopper’s ingredients out loud.
Having passed...more
The beginning of a new year is a time for resolutions and predictions. We won’t bother Socially Aware readers with our resolutions for 2017, but we thought that we would share some predictions for the new year from our...more
1/5/2017
/ Blockchain ,
Copyright ,
DMCA ,
EU ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FinTech ,
Infrastructure ,
Internet of Things ,
LabMD ,
Marketing ,
Patent Litigation ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Technology ,
Trump Administration
If your company operates a website or blog that hosts user-generated content, you’ll want to read this post carefully.
We’re ringing the alarm bell on an important new U.S. copyright law development that, if ignored,...more
Facebook introduced technology that disables ad blockers used by people who visit the platform via desktop computers, but Adblock Plus has already foiled the platform’s efforts, at least for now....more
8/15/2016
/ Ad-Blockers ,
Amicus Briefs ,
Copyright ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
LinkedIn ,
Mobile Apps ,
PETA ,
Snapchat ,
Social Media ,
Software ,
Twitter ,
Web Scraping
We’re in the midst of a seismic shift in how companies interact with user-generated content (UGC).
For years, companies were happy simply to host UGC on their websites, blogs and social media pages and reap the resulting...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
In this election season, we hear a lot of complaints about laws stifling business innovation. And there is no doubt that some laws have this effect.
But what about laws that spur innovation, that result in the creation...more
Companies love to use third-party content for free. In this era of belt-tightening and slashed marketing budgets, why pay to create photos and videos for advertising and other commercial uses when compelling photos and videos...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
Photo negative. Daniel Morel, the photojournalist who was awarded $1.2 million in damages from news agencies that distributed his iconic Haiti earthquake pictures without his permission after he posted those pictures on...more
More than two decades have passed since internationally recognized copyright law expert and award-winning novelist Professor Paul Goldstein of Stanford Law School (and Of Counsel to Morrison & Foerster) published his landmark...more