In Wake of Coronavirus, HHS Waives Penalties for Potential HIPAA Violations Posted on April 25, 2020 In response to the nationwide emergency concerning COVID-19, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a COVID-19 & HIPAA Bulletin waiving certain sanctions and penalties for healthcare providers, effective March 15, 2020. These sanctions are covered by the HIPAA Privacy Rule. To give patients more control over their health information, the Privacy Rule establishes national standards for...
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CDC Sued to Disclose Restrictions on Scientists’ Right to Speak Posted on April 16, 2020 Complaint for Injunctive Relief, Knight Institute v. CDC (S.D.N.Y Apr. 2, 2020) (No. 20-2761), complaint hosted by the Knight Institute. Demanding the Trump Administration make public any restrictions on when employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may speak to the public or the press, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is suing to force compliance...
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EU Court finds Amazon’s Marketplace is Safe from Infringement Claims Posted on April 14, 2020 C-567/18, Coty Germany GmbH v Amazon Services Europe Sàrl, Amazon Europe, 2020, ECLI:EU:C:2020:267, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:62018CJ0567 (last visited April 6, 2020). The German arm of beauty company Coty, which owns the Davidoff brand, sells luxury cosmetics in Germany. It markets certain brands in that sector via a selective distribution network enforced by a selective distribution contract. Coty’s contracts contained requirements that its...
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In re Google LLC Street View: Are Cy Pres Settlements Fair to Class Members? Posted on April 10, 2020 Order Granting Final Approval of Class Action Settlement, Granting Attorneys’ Fees, and Entering Final Judgment, In re Google LLC Street View Electronic Communications Litigation (N.D. Cal Mar. 18, 2020) (No. 10-md-02184-CRB), order hosted by courthousenews.com. Judge Charles Breyer of the Ninth Circuit gave final approval to a proposed $13 million settlement in In re Google LLC Street View, a class...
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2020 – End or Revival of the OCC Fintech Charter? Posted on April 08, 2020 Lacewell v. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Case 1:18-cv-08377-VM (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 21, 2019), hosted by us.archive.org. The original April 2, 2020 deadline for appellant brief filing by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) has just passed. As the Second Circuit gave a 21-day filing extension due to the current COVID-19 situation, the OCC earned more...
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Tulsi Now, Inc. v. Google, LLC: Online First Amendment Rights and the State-Action Doctrine Posted on April 01, 2020 Tulsi Now, Inc. v. Google, LLC, No. 2:19-cv-06444 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 3, 2020), order hosted by CourtListener. On March 3, 2020, a California federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Google brought by presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard’s election campaign. The lawsuit alleged that Google violated the Campaign’s First Amendment rights when it temporarily suspended the Campaign’s Google Ads account shortly after...
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Allen v. Cooper: Sovereign Immunity Allows North Carolina’s “Piracy” of Pirate Videos Posted on April 01, 2020 Allen v. Cooper, No. 18-877 (March 23, 2020). In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court struck down the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act (“CRCA”), 17 U.S.C. § 511 (1990), which purported to prevent states from raising sovereign immunity as a defense when sued for copyright infringement. Sovereign immunity, a constitutional doctrine rooted in federalism, allows states to avoid lawsuits in federal...
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FCC Proposed over $200 Million in Fines for Cellular Carriers for Illegally Selling Users' Data Posted on March 22, 2020 On February 28, 2020, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) proposed over $200 million in fines against the United States’ four largest wireless carriers—T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint—for selling access to their customers’ location information without taking “reasonable measures to protect against unauthorized access to that information” in violation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. The New York Times describes these...
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USPTO Implements Mandatory Electronic Filing for Trademarks and Clarifies Specimen Requirements Posted on March 16, 2020 Changes to the Trademark Rules of Practice to Mandate Electronic Filing, 84 Fed. Reg. 37081 (proposed July 31, 2019). New rules mandating electronic filing for most trademarks went into effect on February 15, 2020. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) will now conduct all formal trademark application and registration correspondence through the Trademark Electronic Application System (“TEAS”), with...
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The Workout Playlists are Back: Peloton Settles with the National Music Publishers Association over Copyright Infringement Claim Posted on March 16, 2020 Downtown Music Publ'g LLC v. Peloton Interactive, Inc., 19cv2426(DLC) (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 29, 2020) On February 27, 2019, Peloton Interactive, Inc., the exercise equipment company that developed the popular Peloton Bike, announced the settlement of a claim brought by ten members of the National Music Publishers Association (“NMPA”), the largest trade association of music publishers in the United States. The NMPA...
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