The internet has become so essential to American public discourse that saying so is almost trite now. Members of Congress regularly use social media to engage with constituents. The President has turned Twitter into one of...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that the plaintiff’s allegations that Experian denied him access to information to which he was entitled under the Fair Credit Reporting Act was insufficient to establish...more
This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued an important decision in Whalen v. Michaels Stores, placing the court at the center of the controversy around what allegations are sufficient to establish...more
5/9/2017
/ Article III ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Credit Cards ,
Data Breach ,
Fraudulent Charges ,
Hackers ,
Identity Theft ,
Malware ,
Michaels ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Pleading Standards ,
Popular ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Retail Market ,
Standing
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that allegations that personally identifiable information was disclosed without consent in violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act were sufficient to...more
5/3/2017
/ Article III ,
CNN ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Collection ,
Digital Media ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Mobile Apps ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
Subscribers ,
VPPA ,
Web Tracking
In a closely-watched case, the California Supreme Court recently held in McGill v. Citibank, N.A. that arbitration clauses that foreclose a plaintiff’s right to pursue public injunctive relief in any forum are invalid and...more
4/13/2017
/ Arbitration ,
Arbitration Agreements ,
AT&T Mobility v Concepcion ,
Banking Sector ,
CA Supreme Court ,
Citibank ,
Class Action ,
Class Action Arbitration Waivers ,
CLRA ,
Consumer Contracts ,
Federal Arbitration Act ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Preemption ,
Unfair Competition Law (UCL)
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has made it more difficult to establish Article III standing in data breach cases both at the pleading stage and at summary judgment by requiring plaintiffs to allege and show...more
2/23/2017
/ Actual Injuries ,
Article III ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Future Harm ,
Identity Theft ,
Medical Records ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Pleadings ,
Privacy Act of 1974 ,
Split of Authority ,
Standing ,
Summary Judgment ,
Young Lawyers
A Smooth Patch in a Rough Road? Governmental Transition and Intellectual Property -
Whenever a new Congress convenes, some IP issues come to the fore while others take a back seat. Transition to a new administration in the...more
2/10/2017
/ Administrative Appointments ,
America Invents Act ,
Appeals ,
Article III ,
Barack Obama ,
Cheerleaders ,
Copyright ,
Copyright Infringement ,
Copyright Office ,
Data Breach ,
Denial of Certiorari ,
Disparagement ,
DMCA ,
Exclusive Licenses ,
Fashion Design ,
FDCPA ,
File Sharing ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Google ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
International Trade Commission (ITC) ,
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) ,
IP License ,
Lanham Act ,
Lee v Tam ,
Lenz v Universal Music Corp. ,
Misappropriation ,
Non-Appealable Decisions ,
Non-Practicing Entities ,
Online Videos ,
Oracle ,
Patent Trial and Appeal Board ,
Patents ,
Petition for Writ of Certiorari ,
Popular ,
Privacy Laws ,
SCOTUS ,
Section 337 ,
Software Developers ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Standing ,
Star Athletica v Varsity Brands ,
Takedown Notices ,
Tariff Act of 1930 ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademark Registration ,
Trademarks ,
Trans-Pacific Partnership ,
Trump Administration ,
Uniforms ,
USPTO ,
YouTube
Last week, in In re Search Warrants Nos. 16-960-M-01and 16-1061-M to Google, a federal magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ordered Google to comply with three search warrants to turn over users’...more
This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that allegations that unsolicited advertisement text messages were sent in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) established a concrete...more
2/3/2017
/ Actual Injuries ,
Advertising ,
Appeals ,
Article III ,
Corporate Counsel ,
False Advertising ,
Prior Express Consent ,
Standing ,
TCPA ,
Telemarketing ,
Unfair Competition ,
Unsolicited Phone Calls
Last week, the Third Circuit held that allegations of the unauthorized disclosure of personal information in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) constituted a de facto injury sufficient to confer standing at the...more
1/25/2017
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Blue Cross ,
Blue Shield ,
Class Action ,
Consumer Reporting Agencies ,
Cookies ,
Data Breach ,
De Facto Injury ,
Dismissals ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Health Insurance ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Pleadings ,
Reversal ,
Standing ,
Statutory Rights ,
Unauthorized Disclosure ,
Web Browsers
Last week, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a measurement standards laboratory in the United States Department of Commerce, released draft version 1.1 of its Framework for Improving Critical...more
This week, in Meyers v. Nicolet Rest. of de Pere, LLC, No. 16-2075 (7th Cir. Dec. 13, 2016), the Seventh Circuit narrowed standing to bring lawsuits under the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) in holding that...more
12/19/2016
/ Actual Injuries ,
Appeals ,
Article III ,
Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Credit Cards ,
FACTA ,
Predominance Requirement ,
Privacy Laws ,
Standing ,
Statutory Violations
Privacy Shield – An Early Reflection -
EU law generally prohibits the transfer of personal data from the European Economic Area to the U.S., unless the transfer is made in accordance with an authorized data transfer...more
10/25/2016
/ Article III ,
Cable Communications Protection Act (CCPA) ,
Confidential Information ,
COPPA ,
Cybersecurity ,
Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) ,
Data Breach ,
Data Collection ,
Data Protection ,
Electronic Protected Health Information (ePHI) ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
EU ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
Gramm-Leach-Blilely Act ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
Information Sharing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
International Data Transfers ,
IP Addresses ,
Personal Data ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Privacy Policy ,
Standing ,
Video Privacy Protection Act ,
VPPA ,
Wellness Programs
Last week, the Sixth Circuit held that allegations that personal information was stolen following a data breach was sufficient to confer Article III standing to sue to the affected individuals, even in the absence of...more
9/20/2016
/ Article III ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Data Breach ,
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Insurance Industry ,
Nationwide Insurance Co. ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Popular ,
Standing
Last week, the Eighth Circuit became the first Circuit Court to address the reach of Spokeo v. Robbins in a privacy case, holding that a plaintiff’s allegation that a cable company’s retention of his personal information in...more
Last week, the Ninth Circuit limited the ability of websites and online services to use Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) to shield themselves from failure to warn lawsuits arising out of the offline conduct...more
The number of data breaches has risen significantly in the past few years. More and more companies, both large and small, are having their computer networks compromised and are looking for guidance on how to respond. This...more
Earlier this month, the Eighth Circuit expanded standing to bring privacy policy violations claims but limited the definition of personal information in affirming the dismissal of a class action complaint in Carlsen v....more
8/29/2016
/ Appeals ,
Article III ,
Breach of Contract ,
Class Action ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Dismissals ,
Facebook ,
Failure To State A Claim ,
Information Sharing ,
Injury-in-Fact ,
Online Magazines ,
Personal Data ,
Privacy Policy ,
Standing ,
Terms of Service ,
Unjust Enrichment
Last week, the Sixth Circuit expanded potential liability for violations of the Federal Wiretap Act for manufacturers of devices that can be used for wiretapping, like monitoring software, in reversing the dismissal of a...more
Last week, three commissioners from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held in In the Matter of LabMD, Inc. that a company’s failure to implement reasonable security measures to protect sensitive consumer information on its...more
8/3/2016
/ Actual Injuries ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Data Breach ,
Data Security ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) ,
HIPAA Breach ,
LabMD ,
p2p ,
PHI ,
Popular ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
In a case with important privacy implication for U.S. companies providing services ranging from e-mail, social networking, chat communications and remote storage, the Second Circuit Court of Appeal this week held in Microsoft...more
Earlier this week, the European Commission voted to formally approve the Privacy Shield—a set of principles agreed between the E.U. and the U.S. to enable certified U.S. companies to receive and process personal data from the...more
7/15/2016
/ Article 29 Working Party (WP29) ,
Data Protection Authority ,
EU ,
EU-US Privacy Shield ,
European Commission ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Judicial Redress Act ,
Model Contract Clauses ,
Personal Data ,
Surveillance ,
U.S. Commerce Department ,
US-EU Safe Harbor Framework
This week, the Ninth Circuit clarified the scope of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) in upholding the defendant’s criminal conviction in United States v. David Nosal....more
European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation to Usher in Sweeping Changes Affecting Data Protection and Privacy Practices of European and U.S. Companies -
In December 2015 the European Commission published a...more
3/16/2016
/ Attorney's Fees ,
Dismissals ,
Disparagement ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
First Amendment ,
First Sale Doctrine ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Inter Partes Review (IPR) Proceeding ,
International Data Transfers ,
Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons ,
SCOTUS ,
The Copyright Act ,
USPTO
The October 6, 2015, decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Schrems v. Facebook case left significant uncertainty surrounding the legality and practicality of U.S. technology companies’ ability to...more