Disinformation and ‘Fake News’: Final Report: UK Parliamentary Committee Releases a Report on Disinformation Posted on February 27, 2019 Dɪɢɪᴛᴀʟ, Cᴜʟᴛᴜʀᴇ, Mᴇᴅɪᴀ ᴀɴᴅ Sᴘᴏʀᴛ Cᴏᴍᴍɪᴛᴛᴇᴇ, Dɪꜱɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ‘ꜰᴀᴋᴇ ɴᴇᴡꜱ’: Fɪɴᴀʟ Rᴇᴘᴏʀᴛ, 2019-8, HC 1791 (UK). On February 18, 2019, the UK Digital, Culture, Media and Sports Committee published the Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Final Report (“Report”). The Report “denounces” Facebook and other big tech companies as “‘digital gangsters’ in the online world” that are “ahead of and beyond the...
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Ferguson v. Epic Games: Hip-Hop Dance, Copyright, and Fortnite Posted on February 25, 2019 Second Amended Complaint, Ferguson v. Epic Games, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-10110 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 8, 2019), complaint hosted by Bloomberg Law. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, Ferguson v. Epic Games, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-10110 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 11, 2019), document hosted by Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C. Are dance moves protected by copyright? Terrence “2 Milly” Ferguson, a professional rapper and the plaintiff in this...
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United Access Technologies LLC v. AT&T Corp.: Federal Circuit Partially Reverses Patent Claim Construction for Device Enabling Cable Signal Transmission Posted on February 20, 2019 United Access Technologies LLC v. AT&T Corp., Docket No. 17-02614 (Fed. Cir. Sept 26, 2017), opinion hosted by United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit official website. The Federal Circuit partly reversed the District of Delaware’s grant of summary judgment which held that AT&T and other telecom cable providers (“Defendants”) had not infringed upon patents for cable signal...
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Rosenbach v. Six Flags: Illinois Supreme Court Interprets Illinois Biometric Privacy Law Posted on February 18, 2019 Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corp., 2019 IL 123186 (Jan 25, 2019) On January 25, 2019, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the state’s appellate court’s ruling that  a mere technical violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), 740 ILL. COMP. STAT. 14 (2008), was insufficient to confer standing to sue and remanded the case to the circuit court...
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Mylan Pharm. v. Research Corp. Tech.: Federal Circuit Upholds Patentability of Epilepsy Drug Posted on February 14, 2019 Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Research Corporation Technologies, Inc., No. 17-2088 (Fed. Cir. 2019), opinion hosted by Justia. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the patentability of a compound used to treat epilepsy against challenge from generic drug companies. Writing for a unanimous panel, Judge Alan D. Lourie upheld the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) ruling...
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Not So Fast: California Judge Denies Proposed Settlement in Class Action over Massive Data Breach at Yahoo Posted on February 12, 2019 In re: Yahoo Inc Customer Data Security Breach Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 16-md-02752. In a Monday night decision on January 28, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California denied plaintiffs’ motion for preliminary approval of a class action settlement with Yahoo (now part of Verizon Communications Inc.)  over data breaches that occurred...
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MoMA v. MOMACHA: SDNY Grants Preliminary Injunction Against Café for Trademark Infringement Posted on December 12, 2018 Opinion & Injunction, The Museum of Modern Art v. MoMaCha IP LLC et al, No. 1:18-cv-03364 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 28, 2018), opinion hosted by IPWatchdog. The Museum of Modern Art (“Museum”) prevailed in its efforts to preliminarily enjoin a New York City café from using marks the Museum alleges infringe on its “MoMA” trademark. MOMOCHA Café (“Café”) may no longer use...
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Rosenbach v. Six Flags: Oral Arguments Heard on Case Determining Standing Under Illinois Biometric Privacy Law Posted on December 10, 2018 Oral Argument, Rosenbach v. Six Flags Entertainment Corp., No. 123186 (Ill. 2018). On November 20, 2018, the Illinois Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Rosenbach v. Six Flags, its first case concerning the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). At issue is whether a person whose biometric data has been inappropriately collected in violation of BIPA has standing to sue...
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NuVasive Breathes a Sigh of Relief: A More Favorable Standard for the Nexus Between NuVasive’s Patent and a Novel Spinal Surgical Method Posted on December 07, 2018 NuVasive, Inc., v. Andrei Iancu, 2017-1666 (CAFC Nov. 9, 2018), hosted by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (“CAFC”) issued a nonprecedential opinion for the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) to reconsider their holding invalidating the patent of NuVasive, Inc. (“NuVasive”) covering a surgical access system used...
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A Step Forward for Federal Privacy Legislation Posted on December 05, 2018 Consumer Data Protection Act, SIL18B29, 115th Cong. § 2 (2018) In the wake of major scandals like 2017’s Equifax data breach and 2018’s Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica breach, Americans are increasingly conscious of the threat that big data poses to privacy. While consumers are most wary of companies’ misuse of and inability to protect their data, roughly half of Americans also...
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