Defendant Redbox requested an order Friday in U.S. District Court for Northern Florida in Pensacola to temporarily stay a class action filed against it last month by a consumer alleging violation of the Florida Telephone Solicitation Act (FTSA) (see 2304260048). In the motion (docket 3:23-cv-08760), Redbox referenced the Florida legislature’s recent passage and “imminent enactment” of a bill, HB-761, to amend portions of the FTSA. The amendment passed Florida’s House and Senate and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

Mutual of Omaha hired a third-party vendor to sell Medicare supplemental insurance coverage through unwanted phone solicitations, in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, alleged plaintiff Michael Van Baalen’s April 3 state court complaint, removed Friday by Mutual of Omaha to U.S. District Court for New Mexico in Albuquerque. Mutual disputes all of Van Baalen’s allegations, believes the complaint lacks any merit, and denies that Van Baalen “has been harmed in any way,” said its notice of removal (docket 1:23-cv-00416).

U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap for Eastern Texas in Marshall signed a memorandum opinion and order Friday (docket 2:22-cv-00471) denying Altice USA’s Feb. 17 motion to dismiss the recording industry’s claims for vicarious liability for copyright infringement and contributory copyright infringement. The industry alleges Altice gave its internet subscribers the “unfettered ability” to steal music; Altice’s defense is that it can’t “police” the internet (see 2303140008).

Reversing the district court’s dismissal of Yout’s complaint for a declaration that its YouTube-ripping software isn't a circumvention tool under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see 2210240004) would “eviscerate critical safeguards” the statute’s Section 1201 provides, said the Copyright Alliance’s amicus brief Thursday (docket 22-2760) in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Reversal also would “thus undermine copyright’s goal to disseminate expressive works in the interests of free expression,” said the brief in support of defendant-appellee the Recording Industry Association of America.

Verizon seeks an order compelling the town of Southwick, Massachusetts, to produce a certified copy of the written record of the proceedings before its planning board that contributed to the board’s denial of Verizon’s application for a wireless communications facility in the municipality, said its motion Thursday (docket 3:21-cv-10414) in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts in Springfield.

Penguin Random House (PRH) reproduced and synchronized a copyrighted music track in a video advertisement on its YouTube page without license or authority, said a Thursday complaint (docket 1:23-cv-03946) by music publisher Charming Beats in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan.

Security failures leading to a data breach at Asian-American grocery chain Weee allowed hackers to steal personal and financial data from Orange County, California, resident Helen Jia, alleges her Thursday class action (docket 3:23-cv-02314) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco. The case specifically targets Chinese immigrants like Jia, it said.

Plaintiff Ruhi Reimer’s claims against Kohl’s for alleged Telephone Consumer Protection Act violations are unusual among TCPA class actions because Reimer originally gave the merchant consent to receive its promotional text messages, but then he couldn’t get the messages to stop.

Liberty Broadband subsidiary GCI Communications agreed to pay $40.24 million to settle allegations it breached the False Claims Act by knowingly inflating its prices and violating FCC competitive bidding rules in connection with its participation in the commission’s Rural Health Care (RHC) program, said DOJ and the FCC in a statement Thursday. Just over $26 million of the settlement amount will be USF restitution payments directly to the FCC under a contemporaneous consent decree with the commission, said the settlement agreement.

Amazon, Canon USA and Canon’s Japanese parent filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle to “permanently prevent and enjoin” 29 defendants from selling counterfeits of Canon-branded camera chargers and batteries on the Amazon store. The defendants, through their illegal actions, breached their contracts with Amazon, “compromised the integrity” of the Amazon store and “undermined the trust that customers place in Amazon and Canon,” said the complaint (docket 2:23-cv-00679).