New Media and Technology Law Blog

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April 21, 2020

In an innovative initiative in the battle against the Coronavirus, the newly-formed Open COVID Coalition (the “Coalition”) launched the Open COVID Pledge (the “Pledge”), a framework for organizations to contribute intellectual property to the fight against COVID-19. Pursuant to the Pledge, rightsholders can openly license intellectual property to facilitate the development of tools and technologies to counter the COVID pandemic. These would include the manufacturing of medical equipment and testing kits, as well as the…

New Media and Technology Law Blog

Cluttered User Registration Screens Challenge Enforceability of Site Terms

By Jeffrey Neuburger

April 8, 2020

In recent years, courts have issued a host of rulings as to whether online or mobile users received adequate notice of and consented to user agreements or website terms when completing an online purchase or registering for a service. Some online agreements have been enforced, while others have not. In each case, judges have examined the circumstances behind the transaction closely, scrutinizing the user interface and how the terms are presented before a user completes…

New Media and Technology Law Blog

Work-Outs of Technology and Services Agreements Challenged by COVID-19

By Jeffrey Neuburger

April 7, 2020

In early February 2020, before most of us were truly aware of the implications of COVID-19, a well-respected IT consulting group predicted a $4.3 trillion global spend on information technology in 2020. Drivers of the projected activity included cybersecurity, outdated infrastructure, mobile accessibility needs, cloud and SaaS transitions, and on-premises technology requirements. In late 2019, another well-respected consulting group had predicted that, in 2020, “[t]here will be increasing opportunities for technology vendors and service …

New Media and Technology Law Blog

Washington Governor Signs Bill Addressing Government Use of Facial Recognition Technology

By Jeffrey Neuburger

April 2, 2020

While Washington’s comprehensive data privacy bill (SB 6181) — inspired by California’s CCPA — died when legislators could not hammer out a compromise over enforcement mechanisms, the state legislature did reach agreement and Gov. Jay Inslee signed into law a facial recognition bill (SB 6280) that provides some important privacy and antidiscrimination provisions regarding state and local governmental use of the technology.…

New Media and Technology Law Blog

Will the Role of Facial Recognition Grow in a Post-COVID-19 World?

By Jeffrey Neuburger

March 31, 2020

An interesting New York Times article last week posited that governments’ use of digital surveillance techniques for the COVID-19 response – such as the tracking of geolocation to gauge quarantine restrictions – would lead to more pervasive digital tracking in the future. On a related note, there have been reports of an increased use of facial recognition technologies as governments use digital tools to respond to the outbreak. These developments bring to mind some interesting…

New Media and Technology Law Blog

FTC Paid Endorser Settlement Sets Framework for Advertiser Best Practices

By Jeffrey Neuburger

March 30, 2020

Teami, LLC (“Teami”), a marketer of teas and skincare products, agreed to settle FTC charges alleging that its retained social media influencers did not sufficiently disclose that they were being paid to promote Teami’s products. The FTC’s Complaint also included allegations that Teami made unsupported weight-loss and health claims about its products, an issue that is beyond the scope of this blog post. The Stipulated Order for Permanent Injunction and Monetary Judgment was approved by…

New Media and Technology Law Blog

Supreme Court Rules That States Cannot Be Sued for Copyright Infringement, For Now…

By Kevin Milewski

March 24, 2020

The U.S. Supreme Court’s busy intellectual property term (with six copyright and trademark cases) rolls on. On March 23, SCOTUS ruled in Allen v. Cooper, 589 U.S. ___, No. 18-877 (Mar. 23, 2020), that states, absent consent, may not be sued for copyright infringement. In particular, SCOTUS held that Congress did not have a sufficient constitutional basis to abrogate states’ sovereign immunity in copyright infringement actions when it passed the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act …

New Media and Technology Law Blog

Online Platforms Sidestep Claims over User Content Decisions and Social App Functions

By Jeffrey Neuburger

March 13, 2020

Despite continued scrutiny over the legal immunity online providers enjoy under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), online platforms continue to successfully invoke its protections. This is illustrated by three recent decisions in which courts dismissed claims that sought to impose liability on providers for hosting or restricting access to user content and for providing a much-discussed social media app filter. In one case, a California district court dismissed a negligence claim against…

New Media and Technology Law Blog

LinkedIn Files Petition to the Supreme Court in hiQ Web Scraping Case

By Jeffrey Neuburger

March 11, 2020

This past week, LinkedIn filed a petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to overturn the Ninth Circuit’s blockbuster ruling in hiQ Labs, Inc. v. LinkedIn Corp., 938 F.3d 985 (9th Cir. 2019). The case concerned the scope of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) liability associated with web scraping of publicly available social media profile data. In the appellate court ruling, the appeals court affirmed the lower court’s order granting …

New Media and Technology Law Blog

Protecting against Cybersecurity Threats when Working from Home

By Jeffrey Neuburger, Ryan Blaney & Kevin Milewski

March 11, 2020

With the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), many organizations are requiring or permitting employees to work remotely. This post is intended to remind employers and employees that in the haste to implement widespread work-from-home strategies, data security concerns cannot be forgotten. Employers and employees alike should remain vigilant of increased cybersecurity threats, some of which specifically target remote access strategies. Unfortunately, as noted in a prior blog post, cybercriminals will not be curtailing…

New Media and Technology Law Blog

Open COVID Pledge Rolled Out to Make Patents and Other IP Available for COVID-19 Response

Cluttered User Registration Screens Challenge Enforceability of Site Terms

Work-Outs of Technology and Services Agreements Challenged by COVID-19

Washington Governor Signs Bill Addressing Government Use of Facial Recognition Technology

Will the Role of Facial Recognition Grow in a Post-COVID-19 World?

FTC Paid Endorser Settlement Sets Framework for Advertiser Best Practices

Supreme Court Rules That States Cannot Be Sued for Copyright Infringement, For Now…

Online Platforms Sidestep Claims over User Content Decisions and Social App Functions

LinkedIn Files Petition to the Supreme Court in hiQ Web Scraping Case

Protecting against Cybersecurity Threats when Working from Home

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