In an ongoing dispute commenced in 2016, the Eleventh Circuit for the second time in the lifetime of the litigation considered trade secret misappropriation and related copyright claims in a scraping case between direct...more
UPDATE: On December 8, 2022, the court issued an order granting the Consent Judgment and Permanent Injunction.
On December 6, 2022, the parties in the long-running litigation between now-defunct data analytics company hiQ...more
12/9/2022
/ Breach of Contract ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Damages ,
hiQ Labs Inc v LinkedIn Corp ,
LinkedIn ,
Misappropriation ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
SCOTUS ,
Settlement Agreements ,
User Agreements ,
Vacated ,
Web Scraping
On November 15, 2022, a California district court declined to dismiss a declaratory judgment action brought by a data scraper, 3taps, Inc. (“3taps”), against LinkedIn Corp. (“LinkedIn”). (3taps, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corp., No....more
Background -
The issue of fraudulent crypto-related mobile apps has received much attention of late. Back in July 2022, the FBI issued a notice, warning financial institutions and investors about instances where criminals...more
9/16/2022
/ Apple ,
Communications Decency Act ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Cryptocurrency ,
FBI ,
Financial Institutions ,
Fraud ,
Immunity ,
Limitation of Liability Clause ,
Mobile Apps ,
Phishing Scams
On May 19, 2022, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it had revised its policy regarding prosecution under the federal anti-hacking statute, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Since the DOJ last made changes...more
On June 14, 2021, in a closely-watched dispute involving the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), the Supreme Court granted LinkedIn Corp.’s (“LinkedIn”) petition for certiorari filed in the hiQ web scraping case. It...more
6/17/2021
/ Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Databases ,
LinkedIn ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
SCOTUS ,
Social Media ,
Unauthorized Access ,
Vacated ,
Van Buren v United States ,
Web Scraping
In the past month, there have been some notable developments surrounding Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA” or “Section 230”) beyond the ongoing debate in Congress over the potential for legislative reform....more
In what could be prove to be an important decision within the context of scraping of “public” data, in a recent case the Eleventh Circuit reversed a lower court’s dismissal of trade secret claims relating to the scraping of...more
In continuing its push to enforce its terms and policies against developers that engage in unauthorized collection or scraping of user data, Facebook brought suit last month against mobile marketing and data analytics firm...more
3/10/2020
/ Breach of Contract ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
Facebook ,
Personal Information ,
Popular ,
Public Disclosure ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
Unauthorized Access ,
Web Scraping
The ink is barely dry on the landmark Ninth Circuit hiQ Labs decision. Yet, a new dispute has already cropped up testing the bounds of the CFAA and the ability of a platform to enforce terms restricting unauthorized scraping...more
9/30/2019
/ Breach of Contract ,
Cease and Desist ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Facebook ,
Injunctive Relief ,
LinkedIn ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Public Disclosure ,
Revocation ,
Terms of Use ,
Unauthorized Access ,
Web Scraping
In a ruling that is being hailed as a victory for web scrapers and the open nature of publicly available website data, the Ninth Circuit today issued its long-awaited opinion in hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corp., No. 17-16783...more
9/10/2019
/ Appeals ,
Cease and Desist ,
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
E-Commerce ,
LinkedIn ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Revocation ,
Social Media ,
Terms of Use ,
Unauthorized Access ,
User Agreements ,
Web Scraping ,
Website Owner Liability
In an important opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling that plaintiffs in the ongoing Facebook biometric privacy class action have alleged a concrete injury-in-fact to confer Article III standing and that...more
8/12/2019
/ Article III ,
Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Facebook ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Fingerprints ,
IL Supreme Court ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Social Media ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations
A recent dispute between an advertiser AXTS Inc. (“AXTS”) and a video production company GY6vids (“GY6”) produced an interesting issue involving the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) – that is, whether an entity...more
Last December, we noted the continuing robust wave of Illinois biometric privacy suits. At that time, dozens of suits had been filed in Illinois state court against Illinois-based employers and other businesses alleging...more
Late last month, an Illinois appellate court reversed a lower court’s dismissal of biometric privacy claims against a tanning salon franchisee that had collected the plaintiff’s fingerprint to allow entry in its own salon and...more
An Illinois district court remanded to state court for lack of standing a biometric privacy suit brought by employees over the collection and storage of individuals’ fingerprints allegedly in violation of the Illinois...more
7/19/2018
/ Article III ,
Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
Data Security ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Fingerprints ,
IL Supreme Court ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Standing
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
Last December, an Illinois appellate court, in the Rosenbach v. Six Flags decision (2017 IL App (2d) 170317 (Dec. 21, 2017)), dismissed biometric privacy claims lodged against theme park operators for collecting fingerprints...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
In an unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court’s ruling that had sent a putative class action against Amazon over its pricing practices to arbitration, as per Amazon’s terms of service. (Wiseley v....more
10/9/2017
/ Amazon ,
Appeals ,
Class Action ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Internet Retailers ,
Mandatory Arbitration Clauses ,
Motion to Compel ,
Terms and Conditions ,
Unconscionable Contracts ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices ,
Websites
This month, in one of the many recently-filed Illinois biometric privacy suits, a class action complaint alleging violations of Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) was lodged against Wow Bao, a restaurant...more
9/28/2017
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
Data Retention ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Fingerprints ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Private Right of Action ,
Social Media ,
Written Consent
In recent years, courts have issued varying rulings as to whether online or mobile users adequately consented to user agreements or terms of service when completing an online purchase or registering for a service. In each...more
9/1/2017
/ Arbitration Agreements ,
Class Action ,
Clickwrap Agreements ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Mobile Apps ,
Mobile Devices ,
Motion to Compel ,
Online Contracts ,
Privacy Policy ,
Registration ,
Terms of Service ,
Uber
We’ve closely followed the numerous biometric privacy disputes and legislative developments surrounding the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which precludes the unauthorized collection and storing of some...more
3/3/2017
/ Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Google ,
Information Technology ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Photographs ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Social Media ,
Technology Sector
We’ve written extensively about the numerous lawsuits, dismissals and settlements surrounding the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The statute, generally speaking, prohibits an entity from collecting,...more
2/24/2017
/ Article III ,
Background Checks ,
Biometric Information ,
Biometric Information Privacy Act ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Retention ,
Data Security ,
Facial Recognition Technology ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
Parental Consent ,
Personal Data ,
Popular ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Privacy Concerns ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Retail Market ,
Retailers ,
Software ,
Standing ,
Technology ,
Technology Sector