Character Technologies has been hit with two lawsuits, including a wrongful death suit (among other claims), in less than two months over its popular Character.ai chatbot. The first was filed in the U.S. District Court for...more
12/13/2024
/ Algorithms ,
Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Bots ,
Breach of Contract ,
Defamation ,
Facebook ,
Fraud ,
Immunity ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
Mental Health ,
Metaverse ,
Minors ,
Music Industry ,
Piracy ,
Popular ,
Preemptive Challenges ,
Safe Harbors ,
Terms of Service ,
Terms of Use ,
Uber ,
Web Scraping ,
Willful Infringement
On August 8, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Lovinfosse v. Lowe’s Home Centers, LLP addressed the enforceability of an arbitration clause in Lowe’s terms of service, serving as a reminder...more
In Stover v. Experian Holdings, the Ninth Circuit decided an issue of first impression for the circuit, holding that a party’s single visit to a website four years after her original visit—when she agreed to an online...more
Online service providers typically seek to mitigate risk by including arbitration clauses in their user agreements. In order for such agreements to be effective, however, they must be implemented properly. Babcock vs. Neutron...more
As we have noted many times in prior articles, courts often refuse to enforce “browsewrap” agreements where terms are presented to users merely by including a link on a page or screen without requiring affirmative acceptance....more
A federal district court in New York held that a photographer failed to state a claim against digital-media website Mashable for copyright infringement of a photo that Mashable embedded on its website by using Instagram’s...more
It is likely no surprise to regular readers of Socially Aware that posting content to social media can, in some cases, generate significant income. But those who make their living on social media may find their livelihood...more
A federal district court in Illinois recently held in Anand v. Heath that a digital marketing company could not force a user to arbitrate because a “Continue” button on its website did not provide clear notice that clicking...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
As we have noted previously, YouTube users sometimes object when the online video giant removes their videos based on terms-of-use violations, such as artificially inflated view counts. In a recent California case,...more
Last year we explained how companies could protect their social media currency and heed the FTC’s warning on native advertising. We examined court opinions establishing the criteria for enforceable website terms of use and...more
1/10/2017
/ Ad-Blockers ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Emoji ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Legal Ethics ,
Marketing ,
Native Advertising ,
Section 230 ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
Trolls ,
Websites
Because it bases its assesments on job title, location and industry, LinkedIn’s new Salary feature might be more accurate than are other online compensation estimation tools....more
As we have previously discussed, if you want your electronic contracts to be enforceable, it is a best practice to require the counterparty to affirmatively accept the contract by checking a box or clicking a button. A recent...more
9/1/2016
/ Acceptance ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Contract Formation ,
Electronic Agreements ,
Electronic Communications ,
Employment Contract ,
Enforceability ,
Forum Selection ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Stock Options ,
Terms of Use ,
Unenforceable Contract Terms ,
Void and Unenforceable
As we have noted before, if you want to increase the likelihood that your website terms of use are enforceable against users, you need to do two things. First, you need to display the terms to users in a conspicuous way, and...more
Three Steps To Help Ensure The Enforceability Of Your Website’s Terms Of Use -
Operators of social media platforms and other websites typically manage their risks by imposing terms of use or terms of service for the...more
1/29/2016
/ Barnes and Noble ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Enforceability ,
Facebook ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Endorsement Guidelines ,
Harassment ,
Instagram ,
Microsoft ,
Online Contracts ,
Reddit ,
Search Warrant ,
Section 5 ,
State Data Breach Notification Statutes ,
Terms of Use ,
Twitter ,
UK ,
Vlog ,
Websites ,
Young Lawyers
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
Operators of social media platforms and other websites typically manage their risks by imposing terms of use or terms of service for the sites. As we previously wrote, websites must implement such terms properly to ensure...more
10/6/2015
/ Barnes and Noble ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Enforceability ,
Facebook ,
Hertz ,
Instagram ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Online Contracts ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Service ,
Terms of Use ,
Unilateral Modification ,
Websites
Social networking platforms have long faced the difficult task of balancing the desire to promote freedom of expression with the need to prevent abuse and harassment on their sites. One of social media’s greatest challenges...more
9/1/2015
/ Anti-Harassment Policies ,
Consent ,
Cyberbullying ,
Facebook ,
Google ,
Harassment ,
Instagram ,
Internet Privacy ,
Reddit ,
Social Media ,
Social Networks ,
Terms of Use ,
Twitter
Websites sometimes present their terms of use (“TOU”) to users merely by including a link to those TOU on the website without requiring users to affirmatively accept the terms by, for example, checking a box or clicking an “I...more
8/17/2015
/ Browsewrap Agreement ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
False Advertising ,
Fraud ,
Mobile Apps ,
Notice Requirements ,
Popular ,
Software ,
Terms of Use ,
Websites ,
Young Lawyers
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 muddled legal landscape will have them clicking “like” in no...more
Implementing and Enforcing Online Terms of Use -
Operators of social media platforms and other Web sites must manage a large number of risks resulting from their interactions with users. In an effort to maintain a...more
In This Issue:
- What’s in a Like?
- R.I.P.: The Facebook “Like” Gate
- Facebook Dislikes Fake Likes
- Privacy in the Cloud: A Legal Framework for Moving Personal Data to the Cloud
- Click...more
12/17/2014
/ Advertising ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Cloud Computing ,
COPPA ,
Counterfeiting ,
Data Protection ,
EU ,
Facebook ,
Infringement ,
Internet ,
Mobile Apps ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
UK ,
Websites
We have written previously regarding the pitfalls of online contract formation, including where website operators fail to implement website terms in a manner that requires users to expressly accept such terms. A recent...more
Operators of social media platforms and other websites must manage a large number of risks arising from their interactions with users. In an effort to maintain a degree of predictability and mitigate some of those risks,...more
10/6/2014
/ Barnes and Noble ,
Browsewrap Agreement ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Contract Formation ,
Disclaimers ,
Dispute Resolution ,
Facebook ,
Risk Mitigation ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
Websites
In This Issue:
Peering Into the Future: Google Glass and the Law; Ownership of Business-Related Social Media Accounts; Two Circuits Address the First Amendment Status of Facebook Activity; Collaborative Consumption –...more