Uber Reaches Expanded Data Privacy Settlement with FTC Posted on April 24, 2018 On April 12, 2018, Uber reached an expanded settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) over charges of misrepresentation of data privacy practices. The 2018 settlement is yet another round in Uber’s data privacy-related fisticuffs with the FTC, the administrative agency tasked with regulating business practices to protect consumer interests. In 2017, the FTC charged Uber with misleading consumers...
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Federal Circuit Flash Digest – In re Brandt: Prima Facie Obviousness Found From Prior Art Disclosure of Similar, Though Non-Overlapping, Numeric Range Posted on April 19, 2018 In re: Brandt, No. 2016-2601, 2018 WL 1473869 (Fed. Cir. Mar. 27, 2018). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's (“Board”) decision, which had upheld an examiner’s obviousness rejection of Gregory A. Brandt, John B. Letts, and Firestone Building Products Company LLC’s ("Brandt") patent application claims related to construction board for...
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Laurenson v. Hogan: Mr. Hogan, Unblock Your Constituent—Settlement Requires Maryland Governor to Allow Dissent on His Social Media 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...
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Oracle v. Google: Federal Circuit Rules No Fair Use Protection for Google’s Copying of Java API Packages 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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Nasdaq v. IEX Group: Nasdaq sues (again) a fledgling stock-exchange operator 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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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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Coalition of 32 State AGs Outline Opposition to Federal Preemption of State Data Breach Notification Laws 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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Federal Circuit Flash Digest – Aviation v. United States: Termination of the Right to Sue Libyan Government Not a Taking 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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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 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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Marrakesh Treaty Implementation Act: Senate Introduces Bipartisan Bill to Implement Copyright Exceptions in Accordance with Marrakesh Treaty. 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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