In an important ruling for digital currency service providers, EU’s top court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), ruled that transactions to exchange a traditional currency for bitcoin virtual currency, or vice versa, were not subject to value added tax (VAT), effectively treating such transactions like an
Video Privacy Protection Act Narrowed – App’s Transmission of Roku ID Not Disclosure of Personal Information
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
A New York district court opinion is the latest addition to our watch of ongoing VPPA-related disputes, a notable decision on the issue of what exactly is a disclosure of “personally identifiable information” (PII) under the VPPA. Does PII refer to information which must, without more, link an actual…
Biometrics: Facebook Files Motion to Dismiss Privacy Suit over Facial Recognition Technology
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
As discussed in a previous post on facial recognition technology, a putative class action has been filed against Facebook over the collection of “faceprints” for its online photo tagging function, Tag Suggestions. (See e.g., Licata v. Facebook, Inc., No. 2015CH05427 (Ill. Cir. Ct. Cook Cty. filed Apr. 1,…
Important Circuit Court Ruling Limits Scope of VPPA Liability
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
The Eleventh Circuit issued a notable ruling this week limiting a mobile app’s liability under the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), 18 U.S.C. § 2710, a law enacted in 1988 to preserve “consumer” personal privacy with respect to the rental or purchase of movies on VHS videotape, and which has…
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act: More Lessons to Be Learned
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
Courts continue to struggle with the application of CDA immunity to shield service provider defendants from liability in extreme cases. In this case, the Washington Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, affirmed the lower court’s decision to allow a suit to proceed against classified service Backpage.com surrounding the sexual assault…
Clickwrap Agreement Available Only Through Hyperlink Enforceable Under New York Law
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
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
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
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
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
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
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
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
By Jeffrey Neuburger on
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…