Digest Reports

Laurenson v. Hogan: Mr. Hogan, Unblock Your Constituent—Settlement Requires Maryland Governor to Allow Dissent on His Social Media

By Rex Bray III – Edited by Daniel Sylvia
Posted on April 17, 2018
Complaint for Injunctive and Declaratory Relief and Damages, Laurenson v. Hogan, No. 8:17-CV-02162-DKC (D. Md. filed August 1, 2017), complaint hosted by ACLU of Maryland. Release and Settlement Agreement, Laurenson v. Hogan, No. 8:17-CV-02162-DKC (D. Md. filed August 1, 2017), settlement hosted by ACLU of Maryland. Governor Lawrence J. Hogan settled with several plaintiffs, requiring the State of Maryland to adopt a new social media policy preventing the governor from blocking users for criticizing him. According to the complaint, last January, plaintiff Meredith Phillips posted a comment on Hogan’s official Facebook page, asking “whether Governor Hogan planned to ‘speak out on the Muslim ban.’” Phillips claims that her comment was deleted and that she then re-posted it, adding that she...
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Digest Reports First Amendment
Oracle v. Google: Federal Circuit Rules No Fair Use Protection for Google’s Copying of Java API Packages

By Michael McCambridge ¬– Edited by Jaehwan Park
Posted on April 16, 2018 Oracle America, Inc., v. Google LLC, No. 17-1118, (Fed. Cir. Mar. 27, 2018), opinion hosted by USCourts.gov. In a result that sends the case back to California for a third jury trial, the Federal Circuit ruled as a matter of law that Google’s use of 37 Java API packages did not qualify as a fair use. Google based their Android...
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Copyright Digest Reports
Nasdaq v. IEX Group: Nasdaq sues (again) a fledgling stock-exchange operator

By Yang Yu – Edited by William McClure
Posted on April 13, 2018 Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial, Nasdaq, Inc. et al. v. IEX Group, Inc. et al., No. 3:18-cv-03014 (D.N.J., Mar. 1, 2018), hosted by IPWatchdog. On March 1, 2018, Nasdaq Inc., a company that owns the Nasdaq stock market, sued another stock exchange operator, IEX Inc, in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleging seven...
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Digest Reports Patent
Flash Digest – News in Brief

Posted on April 09, 2018 Terms of Service 0 – Researchers 1: Judge Rules in Favor of the Plaintiffs in Sandvig v. Sessions On March 30, 2018, in Sandvig v. Sessions, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that scraping data from websites plausibly falls within the ambit of the First Amendment and violating a website’s terms of service is not...
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Digest Reports First Amendment Flash Digest
Coalition of 32 State AGs Outline Opposition to Federal Preemption of State Data Breach Notification Laws

By Saranna Soroka – Edited by Thomas Weber
Posted on April 08, 2018 On March 19, 2018, a bipartisan coalition of 32 state Attorneys General outlined their opposition to the House draft Data Acquisition and Technology Accountability and Security Act, which was introduced by Representative Luetkemeyer (R-MO) and Representative Maloney (D-NY) on February 16, 2018. According to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services staff, the bill would “replace the current...
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Digest Reports Privacy
Federal Circuit Flash Digest – Aviation v. United States: Termination of the Right to Sue Libyan Government Not a Taking

By Amy Zhao – Edited by Benjamin Gunning
Posted on April 07, 2018 Aviation & Gen. Ins. Co., Ltd. v. United States, No. 2016-2389, 2018 WL 817247 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 12, 2018) In Aviation & Gen. Ins. Co., Ltd. v. United States, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Court of Federal Claims’ grant of summary judgment for the U.S. Government (“Government”), holding that the termination of Aviation’s lawsuits...
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Digest Reports Federal Circuit Flash Digest
Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA): Senate Passes Bill Making Online Platforms Liable for Third-Party Content Enabling Illegal Sex-Trafficking

By Zeynep Ulku Kahveci – Edited by Lauren Beck
Posted on April 04, 2018 Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act, H.R. 1865, 115th Cong. (2018). On March 21, 2018, The Senate Passed “FOSTA,” otherwise known as the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act.” H.R. 1865, 115th Cong. (2018). FOSTA creates an exception to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“CDA”), which provides websites immunity for...
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Digest Reports First Amendment
Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act: Senate Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Implement Copyright Exceptions in Accordance with Marrakesh Treaty.

By Yi Yuan – Edited by Yue Teng
Posted on April 03, 2018 Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act, S. 2559, 115th Cong. (2018) In mid-March, the Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act (“Act”) was introduced in the Senate to implement the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled (“Marrakesh Treaty”) adopted in 2013 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”). The Act is sponsored...
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Copyright Digest Reports
Flash Digest – News in Brief

By Tue Tran – Edited by Reshma Lutfeali
Posted on April 02, 2018 Decentralized but centrally watched? Government agencies race to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges. On March 15, the SEC gave new signs of its policing efforts regarding cryptocurrency. Speaking at an investment conference, Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC Enforcement Division, said that the agency is “very active, and [she] would just expect to see more and more.” The increased scrutiny targets not...
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Digest Reports Flash Digest National Security
ACA International v. FCC: DC Circuit Partially Invalidates Robo-Call Regulations

By Hilary Hurd – Edited by JP Mohler
Posted on April 02, 2018 ACA International Et. Al v. Federal Communications Commission, No. 15-1211 (D.C. Cir. March. 16, 2018) A metallic voice, an unknown number. The uninvited “robo-call” is as old, if not older, than the cell phone itself. For many, it’s an unavoidable annoyance we begrudgingly accept. But for the Association of Credit and Collection Professions (ACA), it’s been an enduring source of...
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Digest Reports Privacy Telecommunications
CLOUD Act Opens Up User Data to Foreign Governments

By Niki Edmonds – Edited by Jesse Burbank
Posted on April 01, 2018 The Clarifying Lawful Use of Overseas Data Act (CLOUD Act, S. 2383, H.R. 4943) On March 23rd, 2018, President Trump signed the CLOUD Act into law. The Act will revamp how the U.S. shares data that could be useful in criminal investigations with other nations, and how the U.S. government will procure this information from private companies.    The CLOUD...
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Cybersecurity Digest Reports Privacy
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