Social Media

On Aug. 17, 2017, the Second Circuit issued its decision in Meyer v. Uber Technologies, Inc.. The appeals court vacated and remanded the trial court ruling by holding that the registration process for Uber Technologies, Inc.'s mobile application formed a legal contract, Less than a month later, the Southern District relied on the Meyer decision in granting the defendant's motion to compel arbitration based on the fact that the design and functionality of defendant's amended terms of use placed plaintiffs' on "reasonably conspicuous notice" of the mandatory arbitration and jury trial waiver provisions.

President Donald Trump's tweets are official government statements, Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge last month.

The Internet has generated a new set of assets known as "digital assets." Broadly defined, a digital asset is an electronic record in which an individual has a right or interest. This definition erroneously implies that digital assets should be treated as a legally equivalent set of assets when, in fact, failure to differentiate digital assets into one of three distinct classes will result in legal difficulties.

Part One of a Two-Part Article

This two-part article is divided into three sections: 1) Social media, defined; 2) Examples of how social media has been used in family law cases; and 3) Ethical considerations for attorneys who gather social media evidence.

Because there are so many new digital channels for possible intellectual property infringement, knowledge of the various mechanisms available to combat the issue is vital to enabling entertainment industry owners to protect their brand.

The Debate Continues

Web "scraping" is one method of accumulating data that has sparked recent legal debate, both antitrust and otherwise. Legal challenges to Web scraping have involved privacy claims and claims under the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, in addition to antitrust claims about the need to collect public data to be able to compete freely.

The FTC has faulted social media influencers for failing to disclose the payments behind their seemingly organic endorsements. But the FTC only reached settlements with the companies, raising a question of when — if ever — the agency would directly go after the influencers.

The first step to solving a problem is knowing it exists. But many businesses have never thought to ask whether their customer-facing websites are accessible to people with disabilities, and only become aware of the issue when they are sent a demand letter or served with a lawsuit alleging that their site violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).