Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce : Mealey's : Legal News & Analysis

Mealey's Cyber Tech & E-Commerce

August 07, 2025
Split 2nd Circuit Certifies Questions In Social Media Hateful Conduct Law Dispute

NEW YORK — In New York Attorney General Letitia James’s appeal of a district court order enjoining enforcement of New York’s Hateful Conduct Law that includes policy disclosure and report mechanism requirements stating that social media platforms must have methods of reporting hateful conduct, a split Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals certified three questions to the New York Court of Appeals, finding that the state appellate court is the appropriate court to conduct the analysis of the statute.
August 05, 2025
9th Circuit Stays Injunction In Epic Games Antitrust Suit Over Google Play Store

SAN FRANCISCO — Without providing explanation, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted Google LLC’s emergency motion for a stay of a district court’s permanent injunction against Google in an antitrust suit filed against it by Epic Games Inc. over Google’s removal of Epic’s Fortnite game from the Google Play Store.
August 05, 2025
Education Material Provider’s AI Antitrust Suit Fails, Google Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. — An education content provider cannot show reciprocal dealing from its relationship with Google LLC or that the two have any relationship that requires the latter to refer users to the former’s website rather than provide artificial intelligence-generated responses to user queries, the company says in moving to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed in a federal court in the District of Columbia.
August 04, 2025
9th Circuit Reverses Dismissal Of Negligence Claim In Child Porn Row With Twitter

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Aug. 1 affirmed in part and reversed and remanded in part a lower court’s dismissal of a suit by two John Does’ asserting claims against Twitter Inc. (now known as X Corp.) for violations of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), negligence per se and product liability for allowing purported child pornography to stay on the social media platform, finding that while Twitter is immune pursuant to Section 230 to the federal law claims and some product liability claims, negligence and defective reporting-infrastructure design claims are not barred by Section 230.
August 04, 2025
Judge Gives Preliminary OK To $4.7M Settlement Of Deceptive Discount Claims

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge granted preliminary approval of a $4.7 million settlement of class action claims accusing an underwear and apparel company of deceiving online customers with “fake timers that countdown fake limited time sales” in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and other laws, with the amount of attorney fees sought by plaintiffs’ counsel not yet specified.
August 01, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Verdict, Injunction In Antitrust Row Between Epic and Google

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 31 affirmed a jury verdict and the trial court’s entry of a permanent injunction against Google LLC in an antitrust suit filed against it by Epic Games Inc. over Google’s removal of Epic’s Fortnite game from the Google Play Store, finding that the verdict and injunction were “supported by the record.”
August 01, 2025
Judge Approves $10 Million Settlement In NFT Securities Class Row With DraftKings

BOSTON — A Massachusetts federal judge issued an order approving a $10 million settlement between parties in a class suit accusing DraftKings Inc. of violating securities laws through its sale of nonfungible tokens (NFTs).
August 01, 2025
OnlyFans Operators Ask Court To Reconsider Dismissal Of Subscribers’ Class Suit

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The entities that operate the adult website OnlyFans on July 31 filed a motion asking a California federal judge to reconsider a ruling refusing to dismiss on forum non conveniens a suit brought by California subscribers who claim that they were deceived into paying to communicate with “professional chatters” instead of adult content creators, writing that the court’s “public policy rationales” were recently overturned.
July 31, 2025
Women’s Dating Advice App ‘Ignored’ Data Security Before Hack, Plaintiffs Say

SAN FRANCISCO — Two women filed separate putative class action lawsuits in California federal court against the developer of the Tea app, where women post anonymously about dating men, accusing it of negligence and violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) after its database of users’ identity-verification photos and drivers’ license pictures was hacked and posted online.
July 31, 2025
Judgment Denied In Gym Dispute With Promotion Company Over Roku-Streamed Fights

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Arkansas federal judge denied summary judgment to a gym and its owner regarding the gym’s alleged purchase and streaming of Ultimate Fighting Championship fights using the ESPN+ app via Roku and allegations by a promotion company with exclusive rights to at least some of those fights that the gym violated the Communications Act, finding that the suit is not barred by the state statute of limitations and that the record lacks clarity regarding whether the fights are protected by the Communications Act.
July 30, 2025
Illinois Majority: Cyber Event Exclusion Bars Coverage For Fraudulent Wire Transfer

CHICAGO — An Illinois appeals court majority affirmed a lower court’s ruling in favor of an insurer in its declaratory judgment lawsuit disputing coverage for the insureds’ underlying $673,384.18 loss arising from a fraudulent wire transfer, holding that the policy’s cyber event exclusion bars coverage.
July 29, 2025
Epic Says Opinion ‘Provides No Basis’ To End Injunction In Apple Antitrust Row

SAN FRANCISCO — In an antitrust suit dispute between Apple Inc. and Epic Games Inc., Epic filed a response in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to Apple’s argument that pursuant to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Trump v. CASA, Inc., a district court did not have the authority to make applicable to all developers the injunctive order requiring Apple to permit app developers to inform users of methods for making in-app purchases (IAPs) outside of the company’s App Store.
July 28, 2025
Split N.Y. Panel Dismisses Tort Claims Against Meta In Grocery Store Shooting Suit

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — In four consolidated appeals, a split New York appeals court on July 25 reversed a lower court ruling denying dismissal to Meta Platforms Inc. and other social media companies sued for various tort claims by survivors and family members of victims killed in a 2022 grocery story shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., finding that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides immunity to these defendants for the tort claims against them.
July 25, 2025
Judge Denies Stay Of Order Requiring OMB To Restore Public Apportionments Website

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a docket-only order, a District of Columbia federal judge denied a motion filed by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its director to stay an order requiring them to restore a public apportionments database, finding that the conduct in removing the database “unequivocally violates federal law.”
July 25, 2025
9th Circuit: Bored Ape NFTs Trademarkable, But Confusion Not Shown

SAN FRANCISCO — While a panel in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed with the makers of Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible tokens (NFTs) that NFTs are trademarkable “goods” as defined in the Lanham Act, the panel reversed summary judgment in the company’s favor on trademark infringement and cybersquatting claims because it failed to show convincingly that consumers would confuse its NFTs with other ape-themed products from two defendants lampooning the original NFTs.
July 24, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Breach Of Contract Suit Against Apple Over Cloud

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 23 affirmed a lower court’s order dismissing a woman’s putative class action suit against Apple Inc., alleging breach of contract and violations of California consumer protection laws for Apple’s purported deceptive representations regarding its iCloud data storage, finding that the woman failed to show that Apple’s statements would deceive a reasonable consumer and that she failed to allege breach of contract.
July 22, 2025
Judge Denies Preliminary Approval Of $7.8M Settlement In Video Games Antitrust Case

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge denied a plaintiff’s motion for preliminary approval of a $7.8 million settlement to resolve claims against Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC for violating antitrust laws and California’s unfair competition law (UCL) by monopolizing sales of PlayStation 5 (PS5) video games through its online store, citing “glaring shortcomings” in the motion.
July 21, 2025
Trump Sues Wall Street Journal For $10B, Alleges Defamation, Republishing On X

MIAMI — President Donald J. Trump on July 18 sued The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), its holding company, the company’s owner and its CEO and two reporters, seeking $10 billion in damages and alleging that he was defamed when the WSJ published and then republished on the WSJ X account “to all 20,800,000 of its followers” a story on a purported “bawdy” card Trump allegedly sent to now-deceased Jeffrey Epstein for his 50th birthday.
July 21, 2025
Fact Discovery Closed After Judge Refuses To Certify IPhone Data Class Action

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A California federal judge on July 18 entered a stipulated order closing fact discovery in a class action against Apple Inc. after denying in an earlier order the plaintiff’s motion for class certification on claims that Apple wastes iPhone users’ cellular data even when their phones were set to reduce the consumption of data, in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL), and denying as moot opposing motions to exclude expert witnesses.
July 18, 2025
5th Circuit Partially Grants Writ Seeking Venue Change In X Corp. Ad Dispute

NEW ORLEANS — The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals granted in part a petition for writ of mandamus filed by a nonprofit seeking a venue transfer in X Corp.’s suit asserting that the nonprofit wrote articles “disparaging X Corp.” by accusing X Corp. of placing advertisements on its platform near antisemitic content, finding that in denying the transfer, the lower court failed to address all the factors required by case law.
July 17, 2025
Judgment Partially Granted For AT&T In ‘SIM Swap’ Cryptocurrency Theft Dispute

LOS ANGELES — A California federal judge on July 16 granted in part summary judgment for AT&T in a dispute with an AT&T wireless customer alleging negligence against AT&T over a “SIM swap” that resulted in the purported theft of cryptocurrency from the customer, finding there is an absence of evidence showing that an AT&T employee who swapped the customer’s SIM card was acting to further the interests of his employer.
July 17, 2025
Dismissal Denied In Antitrust, Hacking Lawsuits Over Car Dealership Software

SAN FRANCISCO — A California federal judge issued rulings largely denying motions to dismiss in two lawsuits filed against each other by competitors in the auto dealership management system (DMS) market, which have accused each other of hacking proprietary data and antitrust violations blocking access to the market in violation of California’s unfair competition law (UCL) and antitrust law.
July 17, 2025
Judge Says Federal Agencies Do Not Have To Restore Shuttered Environmental Sites

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled that several agencies that were sued by a group of nonprofits for removing webpages that provided information about environmental justice and climate change do not have to put the sites back up right now in denying the groups’ motion for a preliminary injunction because they showed only economic harm and waited too long to seek relief.
July 16, 2025
9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Suit Against Microsoft, Says Microsoft Owns Data

SAN FRANCISCO — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on July 15 affirmed a lower court’s order dismissing with prejudice a breach of contract suit filed by an internet security company against Microsoft Corp. alleging that Microsoft used the company’s services outside the scope of the contract to recover compromised account credential data, finding that the company’s allegations fail to show that Microsoft had a duty to limit its use of the data provided.
July 15, 2025
After Settlement Notice, Judge Moots Motions In Web-Based Retailers Trademark Row

DENVER — After a fencing company and the web-based retailers it sued over alleged trademark infringement notified the court that the parties entered into a settlement agreement, a Colorado federal judge on July 14 issued a docket-only order denying as moot motions to dismiss and for an extension of time related to discovery.