DIGITAL
- TheDirty Easily Defeats Another Defamation Lawsuit–Laake v. Dirty World (Eric Goldman)
- Another Terrible Copyright Ruling on IAPs’ Liability for Users’ File-Sharing–Warner v. Charter (Eric Goldman)
- Section 230 Doesn’t Protect Advertising “Background Reports” on People–Lukis v. Whitepages (Eric Goldman)
- Ninth Circuit Reinstates Decade-Old Lawsuit Against Facebook For Tracking Logged-Out Users–In re Facebook Internet Tracking (Eric Goldman)
- Facebook Tells Court Laura Loomer’s Defamation Allegations All Target Protected Opinions
- Disgraced Former NASCAR Boss, Brian France, Uses SLAPP Suit To Silence Parody Twitter Account
- Federal Court Dismisses Twitter’s Long-Running Lawsuit Over NSL Reporting
- The Internet’s Titans Make a Power Grab: Facebook and other platforms insisted that they didn’t want to be “arbiters of truth.” The coronavirus changed their mind overnight.
- Facebook takes down event pages for several anti-quarantine protests
- Australia Gives Up Any Pretense: Pushes Straight Up Tax On Facebook & Google To Pay News Orgs
- Coronavirus has made Amazon a public utility – so we should treat it like one
- Amazon closes warehouses in France, tries to make US shoppers buy less
- No more negotiating: new rules could finally force Google and Facebook to pay for news
- Uber accuses Levandowski of fraud, refuses to pay $179M Google judgment
- Russia’s online disinformation has a 100-year history
- ICANN delays .org sale again after scathing letter from California AG
- Netflix streams some educational films on YouTube for free
- Consumers Seeking Uplifting YouTube Content During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Recent surveys found that majority consumers are seeking uplifting YouTube content during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The Web-based version of Apple Music has officially launched
- Why Apple has stopped making small phones—and why it should start again
- Report: Apple’s Chinese contractors cut hours as iPhone demand falls
- Apple just announced one of its biggest regional expansions for the App Store ever
- The App Store and Apple Arcade rolled out in 20 more countries
- Fraggle Rock is back as Apple TV+ quarantine fodder—so here’s our fan-fiction
- A Lot Of YouTube Creators Just Disclosed Their Declining AdSense Rates Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic. Most Are Down At Least 20%, With A Few Bright Spots.
- New YouTube Updates Will Help Reduce Creator Workload and Emphasize Security
- Who’s Zoomin’ who? How the coronavirus crisis is finally putting the ‘social’ into social media
- The right to Internet as the right to health? Obligations to remove barriers to the access of information during a pandemic
- China’s NBA Free Speech Debacle Turned Out To Be A Prelude To Its COVID-19 Denialism
- Chinese Embassy Gets Briefly Suspended From Twitter; Insists ‘Free Speech Must Be Honored’ On Platform Banned Across China
- The Geopolitical Streisand Effect: The More China And The WHO Try To Silence Taiwan, The More Attention Its Success Fighting COVID-19 Gets
- People Are Making Bots to Snatch Whole Foods Delivery Order Time Slots: Developers are creating a tech divide between those who can use a bot to order their food and those who just have to keep trying during the pandemic.
- Coronavirus Could Lead to the Next Wave of Automation: A survey of executives found more than a third investing in automation in response to the coronavirus. Workers need to get organised.
- NYAG Announces Shut Down of More Than 20 Websites Promoting Coronavirus Scams
- Technology’s had us ‘social distancing’ for years. Can our digital ‘lifeline’ get us through the coronavirus pandemic?
- Straight to (CO)Video: We’re finally getting around to watching these things
- This Is No Time for an Internet Blackout: Citing security to silence dissent is always a bad look, but right now the side effects are especially cruel.
- A Snap Shot on Inadvertent Licensing Through Social Media
- How 3-D printing is helping the US fight medical equipment shortages and the coronavirus pandemic
- Ga. Supreme Court’s First Zoom Arguments to Run Monday Through Thursday: For its first-ever remote oral arguments, the Georgia Supreme Court will hear appeals of several murder convictions plus
- The Jury Is Still Out On Zoom Trials: Courts are moving online due to COVID-19. No one is sure if that’s a good thing.
- Mirror, Mirror on the Screen: The Tyranny of Zoom Calls – Working from home was supposed to turn people into slobs. But many say constant video calling has heightened their awareness of their appearance.
- The New White Lies of Lockdown: Spotty Wi-Fi, an upcoming meal, another Zoom happy hour—people are coming up with new excuses for ending social interactions.
- COVID-19 and Virtual Meeting Best Practices
- [Virtual] Data Overload: Data, Journalism, & COVID-19: Responsibly And Accurately Interpreting And Reporting Complicated Data
- Social-media companies must flatten the curve of misinformation: The pandemic lays bare the failure to quarantine online scams, hoaxes and lies amid political battles.
- Instagram Is Rushing To Roll Out A Memorial Account Feature Because Of COVID-19 Deaths: “We’ve been working on these updates…we’ve accelerated in light of COVID-19 to help support our community…”
- Instagram wants to move all of the Lives you’ve been watching to IGTV
- Spotify now lets Premium users hide songs they don’t want to hear from playlists: Skip that one track
- ‘Feasting on fantasy’ – my month of extreme immersion in Disney+: Disney’s streaming service arrived as the lockdown kicked in. It seemed like a sensible investment. Pretty soon, it was infiltrating my every waking hour.
- The Computer Scientist Who Can’t Stop Telling Stories: For pioneering computer scientist Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression.
- Even Cars and Coffee is going virtual thanks to COVID-19
- The race to save the first draft of coronavirus history from internet oblivion: How researchers, archivists, and citizens are racing to preserve a record of we lived and changed during this strange period of history
- Is this the end of Airbnb?: Hosts are calling it the Airbnb apocalypse. But it’s more akin to an enema
- “A Darwinian Moment”: The Coronavirus Is Blowing Up the Media Landscape: The 2008 financial collapse killed a lot of media dinosaurs. But the COVID-19 asteroid may be even bigger.
- The pandemic was bitcoin’s chance to shine. It hasn’t… yet
- Digital Finance & The COVID-19 Crisis
- Digital Ethics
- Logistics of the Future – Physical Internet and Its Practicality
- The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Facebook: Updating Identity Economics
A.I.
- Chinese Dreamwriter Decision: a Dream Come True for AI-generated Works?
- Fairness and AI: Sandra Wachter on why fairness cannot be automated
- When artificial intelligence is the inventor or creator: who claims the rights?
- Some countries in the Middle East are using artificial intelligence to fight the coronavirus pandemic
- Coronavirus: Will Covid-19 speed up the use of robots to replace human workers?
- AI Diagnostics & Digital Healthcare
- Delivery robots move medical supplies to help with COVID-19 response: The road-legal robots will be limited to 5 miles per hour for safety reasons.
- Navigating Artificial Intelligence and Consumer Protection Laws In Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic
- AI lets you be Albert Einstein or the Mona Lisa on all your Zoom calls
- Artificial Intelligence: The Growing Role of AI on Patents
- A note on artificial intelligence and intellectual property in Sweden and the EU
- How much access to data should be permitted during the COVID-19 pandemic?: Urs Gasser explores the risks and benefits of mining data to combat COVID-19
COMMUNICATIONS
- Fox News hosts have measurable effect on COVID cases, study finds: Comparison of Fox News hosts reveals effect of disinformation on COVID-19 deaths.
- Misinformation During a Pandemic (Leonardo Bursztyn, Aakaash Rao, Christopher Roth, David Yanagizawa-Drott)
- Charter has 230 infected employees after resisting work-at-home requests
- Why the Murdochs backed Donald Trump’s COVID-19 denialism: Fox News has been accused of ‘deceiving the public’ in its coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. Has it finally gone too far?
- FCC Denies Application of Hoax Rule to Trump Press Conferences on COVID-19 – Looking at the First Amendment and the Commission’s Regulation of Political Speech
- FCC and Industry Groups Ask for Supreme Court Review of Third Circuit Ownership Decision
- FCC approves 5G network despite military saying it will harm GPS
- FCC blasted for “shameful” ruling against cities and fire department
- ISPs Ignore Toothless FCC Demand To Not Kick Users Offline During COVID-19
- Tracfone Made Up “Fictitious” Users To Defraud Taxpayers, FCC
- FCC Still Doesn’t Know Where Broadband Is As It Eyes $9 Billion In New Subsidies
- Spotty broadband is robbing students of their education during COVID-19
- AT&T gave FCC false broadband-coverage data in parts of 20 states
- AT&T Provided FCC Bunk Broadband Availability Data Across 20 States
- AT&T’s massive TV losses continue as another 900,000 customers flee
- Net neutrality: are ‘zero-rated’ bundles prohibited traffic management measures under regulation 2015/2120?
- Telecom’s Latest Dumb Claim: The Internet Only Works During A Pandemic Because We Killed Net Neutrality
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
- Access Copyright v York University: York Wins re “Mandatory Tariff” and Loses re Fair Dealing Guidelines (Howard Knopf)
- Two Montreal lawyers file application to trademark the term COVID-19
- A Copy of a Copy of a Copy: Internet Mimesis and the Copyrightability of Memes (Elena Elmerinda Scialabba)
- All’s Fair in Love and War . . . So What About Fair Use in the Time of Coronavirus?
- 3M files lawsuit in Canada against firm accused of price gouging on N95 masks: Ontario company allegedly claimed a phoney affiliation with the U.S. medical-gear maker
- Court Rules Photographer Gave Up Exclusive Copyright Licensing Rights by Posting to Instagram.
- Instagram Terms of Use Allows Mashable to Avoid Copyright Infringement Claim for Embedded Content
- It’s not infringing if it’s an authorized embedding
- Kendall Jenner Sued for Posting Video of Kendall Jenner
- Keeping Up with Copyright: Kendall Jenner Sued for Infringement over Instagram Video
- Cortés-Ramos v. Martin-Morales, aka Ricky Martin: In copyright suit against pop singer Ricky Martin, Court dismisses based on plaintiff’s failure to plead registration with Copyright Office should be without prejudice
- Purohit v. Legend Pictures, LLC: In suit alleging that film infringed on plaintiff’s book featuring mythological figure Krampus, court dismisses plaintiff’s claims, finding no substantial similarity between works
- An Untimely Copyright Lawsuit About a Timeless Guitar
- Making waves: Nike and Footlocker face challenge from the makers of ‘The Endless Summer’ film
- Copyright protection for original clothing designs
- Self-driving startup Zoox settles Tesla lawsuit, lays off 100 workers
- What’s Your Type? Intellectual Property Rights In Fonts And Typefaces
- What’s your type? Intellectual Property Rights in Fonts and Typefaces
- Constructing a firm foundation for copyright protection
- SCOTUS Redefines State “Piracy”
- CJEU’s in Coty v Amazon: storing without knowledge of infringement is not itself infringement
- Trademark infringement: Liability for counterfeit goods
- Balmain case highlights risk of using specialised public with low distinctive character marks
- INTA releases brand valuation report, offers blueprint to put trademark professionals at centre of conversation
- Implementation of the E.U. “Trademark reform package” in France: the French TM Office now competent to invalidate or revoke trademark registrations
- Trade Dress Update: Federal Circuit Holds that Multi-Colored Product Packaging Marks May Be Inherently Distinctive
- The Federal Circuit Reconsiders the Inherent Distinctiveness of Color Marks in In re Forney
- You can’t be blue anymore: Blame colour monopolies
- Bad Spaniels Dog Toys — Expressive Art or Noisy Trademark Infringers?
- Adding another dimension to your trademark portfolio: Securing registration in 3D trademarks
- How Will SCOTUS Resolve the Circuit Split on Recovery of Profits for Trademark Infringement?
- The impact of Brexit on the resale of software licences
- The Simpsons Shows Precisely How One Should Handle Derivative Homage Works
- Dog Toy Maker Wins Big in Appeal Against Jack Daniels
- Jack Daniels Gets Chewed Up In Trademark Case Over ‘Bad Spaniels’ Doggy Chew Toy
- Trademark Owners Can Protect Themselves from Unauthorized Distributors Price Gouging in Their Name
- Trade Secret Litigation: Activity on the Rise
- 3D printing — the value of patents for the future of manufacturing
- Australia Takes Its First Baby Steps On the Road To A Right-To-Repair Law, With A Consultation About Tractors
- IP protection in the autonomous vehicle space
- Open COVID Pledge Rolled Out to Make Patents and Other IP Available for COVID-19 Response
- Patents and Their Role in a COVID-19 Cure
- Key IP Considerations in Corporate Venture Capital Transactions
- The pursuit of balance between antitrust laws and Intellectual Property
- EU’s proposed post-Brexit trade agreement: three key IP takeaways for life sciences
- COVID-19 and its effects on Intellectual Property
- Innovation’s Relationship with IP and Antitrust Laws in Times of Crisis
- 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright, E-Commerce, Advertising) (Eric Goldman)
- 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 2 (Trademarks/Keywords) (Eric Goldman)
- 2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 3 (FOSTA/Backpage) (Eric Goldman)
PRIVACY
- Facebook takes Canada’s privacy czar to court over personal data probe: A 2019 Privacy Commissioner investigation report found major shortcomings in Facebook’s procedures
- Revival of Facebook Internet Tracking Litigation Reveals Importance of CCPA Compliance and Highlights Ambiguities
- French Hypocrisy: Fines Google For Being Soft On Privacy; Now Angry That Google Won’t Let It Spy On Users
- IoT Update: FTC Settles with Smart Lock Manufacturer and Provides Guidance for IoT Companies
- A start-up is using photos to ID you. Big tech can stop it from happening again.
- Cybersecurity Firm Finds A Bunch Of Clearview’s Secret Stuff Sitting Around In An Poorly-Secured Cloud Storage Bucket
- Leaked pics from Amazon Ring show potential new surveillance features
- Hackers target oil producers as they struggle with a record glut of crude
- Apple and Google look like problematic heroes in the pandemic: New contact-tracing technology is supposed to go away after the pandemic. Privacy experts aren’t so sure it will.
- Google Apple Contact Tracing (GACT): a wolf in sheep’s clothes.
- 2 billion phones cannot use Google and Apple contact-tracing tech
- As Google becomes key infrastructure for new coronavirus relief, old issues haunt it
- NYC Mayor Asks Residents To Snitch On Social Distancing Violators, Gets Dick Pics And Hitler Memes Instead
- Surveillance, Privacy and COVID-19
- Coronavirus tests Germans’ devotion to privacy: New initiatives to limit the spread of Covid-19 have sparked a debate over how far the government can go to control the pandemic
- The secret behind “unkillable” Android backdoor called xHelper has been revealed
- Children’s privacy is at risk with rapid shifts to online schooling under coronavirus
- EU Publishes Common Toolbox and Data Protection Guidance on Tracing Apps to Fight COVID-19
- Europe’s coronavirus-tracing apps risk an unprecedented increase in mass surveillance, experts warned
- We need privacy and data laws to tackle this world pandemic: Governments are increasingly using digital technologies and big data analytics to address the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Tracking Covid-19 using big data and big tech: a digital Pandora’s Box
- The Privacy Factor in Ending the Lockdown: The only way to protect health and the economy is through tracking & tracing. To make this palatable in democracies, regulatory & technological hurdles need to be cleared.
- More surveillance and less privacy will be the new normal after the coronavirus pandemic
- Gulf states use coronavirus threat to tighten authoritarian controls and surveillance
- COVID-19 tracking data should be managed the way data trusts are
- Contact-tracing apps enjoy limited success amid privacy fears: Phone apps designed to help limit the spread of coronavirus have had only modest uptakes so far.
- A European Contact-Tracing App Might Be More Privacy-Invading Than Apple and Google’s
- The expansion of mass surveillance to stop coronavirus should worry us all
- Is Contact Tracing a Privacy Threat?
- German government might have lost tens of millions of euros in COVID-19 phishing attack: German state failed to put in place a citizen verification procedure and allowed fraudsters to steal millions of euros.
- Global Examples of COVID-19 Surveillance Technologies
- U.S Treasury Issues North Korea Cyber Threat Advisory
- Team Trump Turns to Peter Thiel’s Palantir to Track Virus
- Trump Admin Gives Coronavirus Tracking Contract to Peter Thiel’s Palantir: Report
- More surveillance and less privacy will be the new normal after the coronavirus pandemic
- Another Federal Court Says Chalking Tires Is A Violation Of The Fourth Amendment
- Opting Out: Biometric Information Privacy and Standing (Michelle Jackson)
CREATIVITY
- Court Tells Pro-Trump 12-Year-Old That Calling Him A Defender Of Racism And Sexual Assault Is Protected Speech
- Iraq Joins China In Suppressing Journalism About COVID-19
- Southeast Asia’s Coronavirus-Driven Censorship: Across Southeast Asia, there’s a worrying rush to sacrifice free speech in the name of nebulous benefits amid a crisis.
- The complicated issue of coronavirus merch: The next big fashion trend or simply problematic? We investigate.
- Daily Fantasy Sports Case Skillfully Comes to a Head
GAMES
- Selena Gomez suing fashion game makers for using likeness without permission
- Selena Gomez suing Chinese mobile publisher over using her likeness: Singer says she did not agree to appear in Clothes Forever – Styling Game, decries “unsavoury” microtransactions
- Infinity Ward updates matchmaking in Call of Duty to bring cheaters together
- NBA 2K Avoids Tattoo Copyright Infringement in Three Ways
- Video Game Tattoo Copyright Litigation: LeBron Scores a Slam Dunk While WWE Still Wrestling with Allegations
- Epic Sues Game Tester Over Trade Secret Breach
- Epic Games Dances Around Infringement Claims as Court Finds Transformative Use
- Report: Epic Games exploring funding round at over $15 billion valuation
- Cooking Mama creator threatens lawsuit over “unauthorized” Switch launch
- Gaming Emote Litigation: Battle Royale Ensues Over Fortnite Emotes with Plaintiffs Testing Different Causes of Action
- Google wins victory royale over Epic Games, snags Fortnite for Google Play
- Fortnite finally hits Google Play, but Epic still isn’t a fan of Google’s mobile tactics
- Valve confirms code leak for two online games
- Analyst: US game spend jumps during COVID-19 pandemic as more are encouraged to stay home
- Finland recognises the Demoscene as part of its cultural heritage: Subculture is now part of the National Inventory of Living Heritage, and can be nominated for UNESCO international heritage status
- Activist investor ValueAct believes Nintendo can rival Netflix, Disney+: San Francisco company has built up $1.1 billion stake in the platform holder over the last year
- Nintendo Switch sales doubled year-over-year in March
- Nintendo working with suppliers to boost Switch production in 2020
- Nintendo Account holders told to bolster security due to spike in ‘unauthorised activity’
- The curious case of Animal Crossing in China | Opinion: China plays a bigger role in console sales than people think, says Apptutti’s Daniel Camilo, and Nintendo’s game is compelling proof
- Nintendo isn’t saying, so here’s how to fend off the account hijacking spree
- Finally, you can build an entire “game” out of Super Mario Maker 2 levels
- Pokemon Rumble Rush shuts down: Service will end July 21, 2020, just over one year after launch
- Xbox Game Studios, Codemasters, and others pull games from GeForce Now
- Sony Plans Limited PlayStation 5 Output in First Year
- PlayStation’s low-key PC experiment | Opinion: Rumours of more PS4 exclusive titles following Horizon: Zero Dawn to PC have been squashed, but is that the end of Sony’s multiplatform strategy?
- Sony, Sega say PC listings for Bloodborne, Persona 5 and more were “not accurate”: Publishers shut down rumours of ports after several titles were listed on Amazon France
- Report: Sony scaling back initial PS5 production numbers
- Sony reportedly limiting PS5 launch window to 6m units: But sources suggests COVID-19 has not affected production of next-generation console
- Recession’s impact on next-gen consoles to be felt “later in 2021,” says analyst: Ampere’s Piers Harding-Rolls says downturn will inevitably undermine sales once early adopter crowd gets theirs
- Monster Hunter Riders tops 5 million downloads in Japan after two months
- Minecraft ray tracing is now live on PC—and it’s a must-play, if you can
- Keywords reports strong 2019 performance amid COVID-19 doubts: Revenue up 30% last year, but the company declines to offer guidance for 2020 due to pandemic disruption
- Superplus Games nets $4.7 million to create casual PvP titles for mobile
- Superplus Games raises $4.7m: Finnish studio currently working on multiple casual, PvP-focused mobile titles
- Report: The games industry braces for a recession (Ampere Analysis)
- European mobile game downloads growing faster than spending: Sensor Tower finds March new installs were up 19% over February while spending grew 12%
- Sega shuttering two mobile games after parting ways with developer Demiurge
- Facebook has launched its dedicated ‘Facebook Gaming’ mobile app
- Paradox reports “best” financial year in its history for 2019
- Newzoo: Shooter games are growing during coronavirus, but esports forecast takes a dip
- Nevada authorizes betting on League of Legends, Overwatch esports
- Paytm First Games teams up with ESPL for mobile esports tournaments in India
- BMW Motorsport is winning a lot in esports, and here’s why
- BMW teams up with 5 global esports teams in a brand alliance
- How COVID-19 Made Esports the ‘Only Game in Town’
- One Consequence Of The COVID-19 Shutdown? This Is Esports’ Moment
- Esports Milestone: Gambling On Esports Will Double To $14 Billion In 2020
- Riot Games lays out prize pools, no blood rule for Valorant esports: New shooter will cap prize pools at $10k for small tournaments, and $50k at medium tournaments
- Riot addresses “kernel-level driver” concerns with expanded bug bounties
- Riot posts $100,000 bug bounty to track down flaws in Valorant’s anti-cheat
- Riot Games acquires Hytale developer Hypixel Studios
- Riot acquires Hypixel: League of Legends maker was already an early investor in the developer of upcoming sandbox game Hytale
- One month after COVID-19 closures, GameStop readies to reopen stores
- Ubisoft Developing Senior Citizen Esports Movie From ‘I Feel Pretty’ Team
- Konami indefinitely delays PES Euro 2020 DLC, cancels boxed edition: Planned esports tournament will still take place, but London finals will now be played online
- In Half-Life’s improv scene, anyone can speak for Gordon Freeman
- Steam gets ‘editorial’ when we weren’t looking
- Final Fantasy VII Remake digital sales and shipments have topped 3.5 million units
- Oculus Connect shifts to digital as Facebook extends in-person event ban into 2021
- Bethesda Has “no update” on ‘Elder: Scrolls Blades VR’ Nearly Two Years After Announcement
- ‘Half-Life: Alyx’ Was Among the Best Selling Steam Games Released in March
- Magic Leap lays off staff in bid to ‘adapt to new market realities’
- Magic Leap Announces Layoffs & Pivot Away From Near-term Consumer Ambitions
- An extended interview with Homeworld designer Rob Cunningham
- Disruptor Beam completes pivot to tools provider with Beamable rebrand
- The enduring ripples of the Indie Megabooth: Founder Kelly Wallick shares her hopes for the Megabooth to drive industry-wide change toward diversity and sustainability
- Baba Is a tough act to follow: Arvi Teikari talks about following up the innovative Baba Is You with a “very traditional Metroidvania” and livestreaming development
- The design of Peggle-like dungeon crawler Roundguard
- Don’t Miss: Doing an HD remake the right way: Chrono Trigger edition
- Don’t Miss: A look at choice overload in games, and how to avoid it
- Don’t Miss: Veteran director Khris Brown on the secrets of great voice acting
- Don’t Miss: The secret history of Donkey Kong
- Video: Less stressful game development via DevOps
- Video: The origin story of Void Bastards’ striking art style
- Video: What you should know before making a cross-platform game
- Video: The Kine game dev postmortem
- Blog: Anatomy of a failed Kickstarter
- Blog: The production data and tools I used to develop Hang Line
- Blog: Prioritizing accessibility considerations
- U.S. Patent no. 10,290,142: Water surface rendering in virtual environment
- U.S. Patent no. 10,286,328: Modular accessory for video gaming
Jon