The ‘Long Arm’ of CIPA and Its Newfound Pen-Trap Claims
Companies doing business in California continue to face a surge in privacy-related complaints and lawsuits under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a 1960s-era law designed to prevent unlawful telephone...more
Businesses need to remain vigilant regarding recent developments in consumer-based data privacy class actions. In recent weeks, the plaintiff class action bar has filed several lawsuits against The Trade Desk Inc. related to...more
Businesses just received some good news when a federal court dismissed a California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) claim that aimed to expand the reach of the state’s wiretapping law to cover internet communications. The...more
Courts across the country are becoming skeptical of data breach and web tracking claims that assert theoretical privacy violations without alleging any actual injury to the plaintiffs. Recent decisions underscore that courts...more
In a big win for businesses, a California federal court just held that a “tester” plaintiff—someone who visits websites to initiate litigation—cannot bring a claim under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA)....more
In a big win for businesses, a California federal court just held that a “tester” plaintiff – someone who visits websites for purposes of initiating litigation – cannot bring a claim under the California Invasion of Privacy...more
Keypoint: In this post: (1) California considers a “commercial exception” to wiretapping and pen registry laws; (2) a rise in federal wiretapping claims against websites; (3) more courts impose “knowledge or intent”...more
As the privacy litigation landscape continues to take shape, search bars have quietly become a Trojan horse in online data collection, carrying new legal theories into the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) arena. The...more
On April 2, 2025, the United States District Court for the Northern District of California granted Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss in Lakes et al. v. Ubisoft, Inc. In Lakes, Among other eavesdropping claims, Plaintiffs alleged...more
If you are “tester” who actively seeks out privacy violations and files lawsuits to ensure legal compliance (as many class action lawsuit plaintiffs are), you do NOT have Article III standing to sue, according to a recent...more
Readers of this blog know about the never-ending barrage of consumer privacy litigation commenced against online companies in connection with their collection of consumer data. Several of these cases have recently been filed...more
Recent months have seen a dramatic increase in demand letters and litigation targeting websites and mobile apps. These claims often allege privacy violations stemming from the use of various technologies such as chat bots,...more
The California Invasion of Privacy Act continues to be a focal point for privacy litigation, particularly concerning website tracking practices. A recent case, Gabrielli v. Insider Inc. sheds new light on whether collecting...more
Three recent federal court cases consider whether the use of third party trackers embedded in websites can be the basis of class action lawsuits alleging violations of statutes enacted before the internet existed. These...more
While readers of this blog are familiar with the proliferation of California Invasion of Privacy Act (“CIPA”) wiretapping claims, our readers may be less familiar with CIPA-related GET Request claims. Below, we explain what...more
Privacy litigation has taken California (and the country) by storm. In the past twenty-four months, the focus of privacy litigation has shifted from data breaches to data use, and the number of class actions filed grows by...more
Keypoint: In this post: (1) How a privacy policy can defeat a plaintiff’s “delayed discovery” argument; (2) Two CA state courts reject plaintiffs’ allegations concerning personal jurisdiction; (3) Three courts dismiss PR/TT...more
In this CLE presentation, we’ll delve into the evolving landscape of data privacy claims, with a focus on the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). These laws are increasingly...more
Generative AI continued to be a hot topic for privacy-related litigation in 2024. In the US, companies using and deploying this technology saw themselves subject to lawsuits under various state and federal theories of...more
On February 18, 2025, US District Judge Edgardo Ramos of the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss against a plaintiff bringing claims under California...more
The deluge of lawsuits and demand letters under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) has prompted courts to scrutinize CIPA claims more rigorously, including the threshold question of whether CIPA plaintiffs have...more
Beware of demand letters from plaintiffs’ attorneys for allegations of illegal use of pen registers, trap and trace pixels, and search bar pixels—why? This “trap and trace” litigation is a growing trend for plaintiffs’...more
As the debate simmers about the proper application of the wiretapping provisions of the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), courts continue to weigh in on what technologies may constitute improper third-party...more
In 2024, plaintiffs across the United States filed various class action cases related to web tracking technology employed by companies to enhance user experience on their websites and to improve the efficacy of their...more
In 2025, the retail and fashion industries are bracing for a transformative year, heavily influenced by the policies of the new Trump Administration. These policies promise rapid and significant changes, particularly in areas...more