Social media companies “are going to keep committing deliberate child safety violations just as long as they can continue raking in billions in profits off kids,” said Tech Oversight Project Executive Director Sacha Haworth in a Thursday news release.
The Montana Attorney General's office needs a 30-day deadline extension to file the opening brief in its 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court appeal to vacate the district court’s preliminary injunction that blocks AG Austin Knudsen (R) from enforcing SB-419, Montana’s statewide TikTok ban (see 2401040002), said the office’s consent motion Wednesday (docket 24-34).
The amended complaint in a copyright lawsuit alleging Universal Music Group, Sony Music and other labels fraudulently sent takedown notices to YouTube should be dismissed with prejudice for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted, said defendants UMG, Sony Music and others Friday in a motion to dismiss (docket 8:23-cv-01942) in U.S. District Court for Middle Florida in Tampa.
Wisconsin Bell failed to persuade the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to grant its petition for an en banc rehearing of an August decision reversing and remanding a lower court ruling regarding how much the company charged schools and libraries through the FCC's E-rate program (see 2308020067). The opinion, released Tuesday in case 22-1515, noted that no judge sought a vote for a rehearing.
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the below lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions. Cases marked with an * were terminated since the last update. Cases in bold are new since the last update.
Defendant Charlie Green knowingly and willingly breached a licensing agreement by asserting a copyright claim to a musical composition he didn’t own, said a copyright infringement complaint Friday (docket 7:24-cv-00256) brought by Jaze Ltd. in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in White Plains.
Greg Bostard, the former Comcast utility pole worker who wants Verizon to pay for his medical monitoring due to his 29 years of exposure to Verizon’s toxic lead cables (see 2308240005), amended his class action Friday to assert that he’s not seeking personal injury damages but rather relief for the “present economic injury” he suffers by having to pay for his own lead-poisoning tests.
Two supervisors of a California cocktail lounge showed a Ngannou vs. Gane Ultimate Fighting Championship event without authorization and without paying a licensing fee, alleged a copyright infringement complaint (docket 8:24-cv-00041) filed Monday in U.S. District Court for Central California in Santa Ana. The UFC event, which originated via a satellite uplink, was subsequently retransmitted via encrypted satellite, cable and IPTV streaming, it said. Plaintiff Ultimate Fighting Championship, which owns rights to the Francis Ngannou vs. Cyril Gane event held Jan. 22, 2022, said defendants Dana Turner of Long Beach, California, and Mira Schoenrock of Peoria, Arizona, principals of Squire Cocktails in La Habra, California, received a commercial benefit by not paying the licensing fee to the plaintiff and obtaining the signal to the broadcast by “alternative means.” UFC seeks statutory penalties of up to $30,000, enhanced damages of $150,000 for willful violation of 17 U.S.C. chapter 504 and attorneys’ fees, costs and interest.
Despite “diligent efforts” to serve two Mexican robocall defendants through the Mexican Central Authority under the Hague Convention, Marriott International “has been unable to confirm service,” said the company’s memorandum Friday (docket 1:21-cv-00610) in U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia in Alexandria in support of its motion for service by publication and email. Marriott filed suit in May 2021 against multiple defendants alleging unauthorized use of the its trademark in international robocall scams and asserting claims of trademark counterfeiting, trademark infringement, false designation of origin and false advertising under the Lanham Act (see 2210070013). To promote prompt service of the Mexican defendants under the Hague Convention, Marriott paid its translation and service vendor to request status updates from the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs at “regular intervals,” said the memorandum. The company also hired Mexican counsel, and that counsel “agreed to serve as Marriott’s representative before the Mexican district courts to further facilitate completion of Hague service,” it said. That counsel “contacted each court to ensure that service attempts were made in a timely fashion,” it said. Before filing its motion, Marriott “pressed” the ministry “for a status update on service but received no assurances,” said the memorandum. The company is unable to confirm Hague service on the Mexican defendants “for various reasons,” it said. On occasion, the ministry responded that an address for the Mexican defendants was either incorrect or that the individuals at the location claimed that another business operates there, it said. When the ministry deemed that multiple addresses were incorrect, Marriott confirmed that it had obtained those service addresses from corporate records the Mexican defendants filed with the Mexican government, which Marriott secured from a vendor, it said. The company worries that the Mexican defendants are running a “shell game,” it said. “Marriott understands that a frequent method of attempting to avoid service of process in Mexico is to claim that multiple businesses operate at an address,” it said. When process arrives for one entity, the occupants “present a license for another business purportedly operating at that location without disclosing that the named entity also operates there,” it said. To avoid further efforts “that are likely to result in the same inconclusive results,” Marriott files this motion for alternate service, said the memorandum.
Communications Litigation Today is tracking the below lawsuits involving appeals of FCC actions. Cases marked with an * were terminated since the last update. Cases in bold are new since the last update.