Last week, the Southern District of New York followed a long line of precedent under New York law and upheld the enforceability of a website clickwrap agreement, granting a website operator’s motion to compel arbitration pursuant to a clause contained in the agreement. (Whitt v. Prosper Funding LLC,
Supreme Court Rejects Google’s Appeal in Java API Dispute
On Monday, the Supreme Court denied certiorari in Google’s appeal of the Federal Circuit’s 2014 ruling that that the declaring code and the structure, sequence, and organization of 37 Java API packages are entitled to copyright protection. (See Oracle America, Inc. v. Google Inc., 750 F.3d 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2014)).
Facial Recognition Technology: Social Media and Beyond, an Emerging Concern
This week, a major self-regulatory initiative intended to address privacy concerns associated with facial recognition technology hit a significant stumbling block. Nine consumer advocacy groups withdrew from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)-initiative due to a lack of consensus on a minimum standard of consent. The NTIA initiative had
Meeting of the Minds at the Inbox: Some Pitfalls of Contracting via Email
We have had a number of clients run into issues relating to whether or not an email exchange constituted a binding contract. This issue comes up regularly when informality creeps into negotiations conducted electronically, bringing up the age-old problem that has likely been argued before judges for centuries: one party
New York Releases Final BitLicense Rules
Readers of this blog will know that we have been following the recent legal developments relating to bitcoin and other virtual currency systems [also here and here]. Yesterday, in a significant development reflecting the general maturation of virtual currencies as a recognized payment system, Benjamin M. Lawsky, Superintendent of
Upcoming Summer Blockbuster: Impending Shortage of IPv4 IP Addresses
There is an interesting article in today’s Wall Street Journal about the impending shortage of IPv4 IP addresses (forcing tech companies and cloud providers to scramble to secure the remaining stock for U.S. users) and the IPv6 solution.
Hate to say “I told you so” but…see our prior coverage here
Who Exactly Is a ‘User’ under the DMCA Safe Harbor?
The DMCA was enacted in 1998 to preserve “strong incentives for service providers and copyright owners to cooperate to detect and deal with copyright infringements that take place in a digital networked environment.” As part of this implicit bargain, Title II of the DMCA offers safe harbors for qualifying service
Emergence of Live Streaming Apps Brings Up Copyright, Privacy, Legal Concerns
The big fight may be over, but the implications of Mayweather vs. Pacquiao with respect to real-time, one-to-many streaming of video through apps like Meerkat and Periscope are still rippling through the media industry. In short, livestreaming apps allow anyone with a smartphone to effortlessly broadcast live video to social
U.S. Dept. of Commerce Releases Multistakeholder Guidance on DMCA Notice and Takedown Best Practices
On Tuesday, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce’s Internet Policy Task Force released a guidance containing a list of best practices (and notable “bad” practices), all designed to improve the DMCA’s notice and takedown system for both senders and recipients of notices [See “DMCA Notice-and-Takedown Processes: List of Good, Bad
FCC Adopts Net Neutrality Rules, Reclassifies Broadband Access under Title II
After nearly 4 million public comments, and months of vigorous public, industry, and Congressional debate, the FCC, by a 3-2 vote, approved revised net neutrality rules to “protect the Open Internet.” As expected by the Chairman’s statements in the lead-up to the vote, the FCC’s Open Internet Order reclassifies broadband