Rojas v. Moore: Immigrants and the First Amendment Posted on October 10, 2020 Claudio Marcelo Rojas v. Marc J. Moore, No. 1:19-CV-20855-JLK (S.D. Fla. Apr. 29, 2019), order hosted by Courthouse News. On September 22, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit heard oral argument in the case of Claudio Marcelo Rojas. Rojas, an Argentinian immigrant and activist who has been in the U.S. for twenty years, was arrested...
Continue reading

The Center for Investigative Reporting v. Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA): Free Speech Protections for Political Ads Upheld in 3rd Circuit Court Posted on October 10, 2020 Ctr. for Investigative Reporting v. Se. Pa. Transp. Auth. (SEPTA), No. 19-1170 (3d Cir. Sept. 14, 2020), brief hosted by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. On September 14, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled in favor of the Center for Investigative Reporting (“CIR”) in a case brought against Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority...
Continue reading

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...
Continue reading

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...
Continue reading

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...
Continue reading

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...
Continue reading

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...
Continue reading

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...
Continue reading

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...
Continue reading

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...
Continue reading