News of the Week; January 13, 2021

DIGITAL

1. Trump deletes tweets after being banned from Twitter
2. Donald Trump has finally earned a permaban from Twitter
3. Not Easy, Not Unreasonable, Not Censorship: The Decision To Ban Trump From Twitter
4. Facebook, Instagram ban Trump through at least Inauguration Day
5. YouTube suspends Trump’s account, disables comments “indefinitely”
6. Just-Formed Alphabet Union Condemns YouTube’s “Lackluster” Response To Pro-Trump Capital Mob
7. Wednesday, January 6th: The Day The Game Of Politics Turned Into Insurrection
8. Politics Is Not A Game
9. Republican state lawmaker livestreamed himself in mob storming US Capitol
10. FBI arrests Republican lawmaker who stormed Capitol with pro-Trump mob
11. Republican lawmaker resigns after arrest for storming US Capitol
12. Identifying Insurrectionists Is Going To Be Easy — Thanks To Social Media And All The Other Online Trails People Leave
13. Insurrectionists’ social media presence gives feds an easy way to ID them
14. Dominion Voting suing “kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell for $1.3B
15. Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell banned from Twitter in QAnon purge
16. Trump social media ban will feature in future antitrust hearings
17. The real lesson of Trump’s social media silencing
18. Trump Is Banned. Who Is Next?
19. Reddit’s largest remaining Trump community banned for “inciting violence”
20. Google bans Parler from Android app store
21. Amazon cuts off Parler’s Web hosting following Apple, Google bans
22. After white supremacists storm US capitol, Apple expands racial justice initiative
23. Parler goes dark, sues Amazon to demand immediate reinstatement
24. Parler’s Laughably Bad Antitrust Lawsuit Against Amazon
25. Filing: Amazon warned Parler for months about “more than 100” violent threats
26. Parler’s amateur coding could come back to haunt Capitol Hill rioters
27. Trump, Parler, and the internet regulation fallout (Andres Guadamuz)
28. Facebook says it’s blocking posts with the phrase “stop the steal”
29. Big ISPs pause donations to 147 Republicans who tried to reverse Biden’s win
30. Snowflake Josh Hawley Seems To Think The 1st Amendment Means Simon & Schuster Has To Give Him A Book Contract
31. Some Thoughts On Twitter Pulling The Plug On Trump’s Account
32. Irony: German Chancellor Merkel Upset At Twitter For Banning Trump; Meanwhile Germany Demands Social Media Blocks Dangerous Content
33. More Plaintiffs (and Lawyers) Need To Be Reminded That YouTube Isn’t a State Actor–Divino v. Google (Eric Goldman)
34. The First Amendment: Where it is Implicated, and Where it is Not
35. A New Year, a new approach to digital regulation: the DSA and Online Harms
36. SolarWinds malware has “curious” ties to Russian-speaking hackers
37. “Baby-making machines”: Chinese tweet on Uighurs not against Twitter rules
38. Twitter takes down China’s “baby-making machines” tweet on Uighur women
39. Appeals Court: Just Because Someone Used An Email Account To Send Threats Doesn’t Make It An ‘Interstate’ Crime
40. Mossack Fonseca & Co. v. Netflix Inc. (California: Central District December 23, 2020): In libel action concerning Netflix’s 2019 film The Laundromat, district court grants anti-SLAPP motion.
41. PSA: If Someone Doesn’t Accept Your Friend Request, Do Not Threaten To Kill Them And Kick In Their Front Door
42. Goliath Beater Roku Rockets Into ‘The Streaming Decade’
43. Quibi’s $1.75B experiment ends with Roku acquisition for “less than $100M”
44. Roku Has Officially Acquired Quibi’s Pricey Programming Library
45. Internet Shutdowns in 2021 
46. The Year That Changed the Internet
47. New proposals for regulation of online platforms in Europe
48. Dear Section 230 Critics: When Senators Hawley And Cruz Are Your Biggest Allies, It’s Time To Rethink
49. New Op-Ed: People Who Understand Section 230 Actually Love It (Eric Goldman)
50. Section 230 Year-in-Review for 2020 (Eric Goldman)
51. Content Moderation Case Study: SoundCloud Combats Piracy By Giving Universal Music The Power To Remove Uploads (2014)
52. Content Moderation Case Study: Yelp Attempts To Tackle Racism On Its Platform (2020)
53. The Slope Gets More Slippery As You Expect Content Moderation To Happen At The Infrastructure Layer
54. Everything Pundits Are Getting Wrong About This Current Moment In Content Moderation
55. Twitter Bans Sci-Hub’s Account Because Of ‘Counterfeit Goods’ Policy, As Indian Copyright Case Heats Up
56. Apple allegedly working with Hyundai on electric car for 2027
57. Bummed about new Google Photos storage limits? Amazon Photos says “hi”
58. A Google smart display with radar-based sleep tracking is reportedly happening
59. How YouTube helps form homogeneous online communities
60. YouTube Re-Teams With Demi Lovato For ‘Dancing With The Devil’ Docuseries
61. YouTube Turns On Post-Roll Ads By Default On All 10-Minute, Monetizing Videos
62. YouTube Names Dr. Garth Graham Global Head Of Healthcare, In Bid To Bolster Authoritative Health Content
63. ‘#YouTubeBlack Voices Grant Program’ Unveils Inaugural Class Of 132 Creator Recipients
64. MrBeast Smashes 50 Million Subs, Though Recent Videos Have Lost A “Ridiculous” Amount Of Money
65. 100 Thieves Snags AT&T Sponsorship, Will Install Branded ‘Valorant’ Team Training Room
66. Some Uber, Lyft drivers sue over California ballot measure: Lawsuit says Proposition 22 is unconstitutional because it limits right to organize
67. Sway House Investment Spurs Tinder Founder Sean Rad To Seed $1 Million In ‘Versus Game’ App
68. Music and Social Media – Times are changing for brands on TikTok
69. TikTok Launches 3-Month Incubation Program For Black Creators
70. TikTok Breakout Noah Beck Lands Reality Series At AwesomenessTV
71. Context is key: ASA dismisses complaint against a Laphroaig whisky ad accused of linking alcohol with sexual activity
72. After corporate blunders and setbacks, Intel ousts CEO Bob Swan
73. Qualcomm will acquire chip company founded by Apple execs for $1.4 billion
74. Nvidia’s next laptop GPU generation powers a leap to 1440p displays
75. Nvidia’s takeover of Arm is being investigated by UK competition authorities
76. UK competition regulator to investigate Nvidia’s takeover of Arm
77. 2H 2020 Quick Links, Part 5 (Contracts, E-Commerce, Defamation, Censorship, & More) (Eric Goldman)

A.I.

1. UKIPO patent guidance updated for DABUS judgment
2. Landmark artificial intelligence legislation becomes law
3. Eye on AI
4. An interview with Covington & Burling discussing artificial intelligence in the United States
5. New York City proposes regulating algorithms used in hiring
6. AI Update: Provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act Signal the Importance of AI to American Competitiveness
7. Why Big Tech Wants Your Body
8. Remember Sony’s electric car from CES? Now it’s being road-tested
9. Tesla’s main self-driving rival isn’t Google—it’s Intel’s Mobileye
10. FRB Governor Promotes Financial Inclusion through AI
11. One piece of optical hardware performs massively parallel AI calculations 

COMMUNICATIONS

1. Ajit Pai offers mild criticism of Trump incitement, drops Section 230 plan
2. In His Last Two Weeks, Ajit Pai Finally Finds A Backbone And Refuses To Move Forward With Trump’s Ridiculous 230 Attack
3. Reminder – 2021 Will Include Some Off-Year Elections for State and Local Office – and FCC Political Broadcasting Rules Do Apply
4. Big Telecom Wants A Cookie For Pausing PAC Donations After Hoovering Up Billions In Trump Favors
5. AT&T kills off the failed TV service formerly known as DirecTV Now
6. AT&T Is Restoring Its Bullshit Broadband Caps Because Apparently The COVID Crisis Is Over
7. Jared Mauch didn’t have good broadband—so he built his own fiber ISP
8. 6G Hype Is Already Getting Stupid, When 5G Hype Hasn’t Even Finished Disappointing Us Yet 
9. A Few Reminders Before The Tired Net Neutrality Debate Is Rekindled
10. Report: Tencent and Alibaba may get blacklisted by the Trump administration
11. Radio, Radio: FM Radio Licenses Soon to be Available to Educational Institutions 
12. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation – Legal compliance reminder for mobile app industry 
13. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation – 2020 Year in Review

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

1. Eleventh Circuit Says Netflix Series Does Not Infringe Copyrighted Memoir
2. Ninth Circuit Holds Dr. Seuss-Star Trek Mashup an Infringement, Not a Parody
3. This Mashup Is Not a Place You’ll Go – Seuss Copyright Will ‘Live Long and Prosper’
4. Copyright Troll Richard Liebowitz Helps Protect Free Speech & Fair Use By Losing Yet Another Case
5. Dickinson v. Ryan Seacrest Enterprises, Inc. (USCA, Ninth Circuit, Dec. 21, 2020): Dismissal of claims by Janice Dickinson over allegedly false portrayal of her in reality television series. 
6. Copyright Royalty Board Announces SoundExchange Audits of Royalty Payments for Webcasters (Including Broadcast Simulcasts) and Other Digital Music Services
7. Digital Collections: Reflections on copyright 
8. Copyright Office Begins Review of Changes in Satellite Television Statutory License for Carriage of Local Television Stations
9. Is 2021 the year for artists to sell their music catalogues? 
10. Art law – Recent developments January 2021 
11. Use My Likeness? Over My Dead Body! 
12. Canadian Madrid Applications: Practice Note for Foreign Agents 
13. Trademark litigation: a global guide 2021 – Canada 
14. Louisville Courier-Journal Wins ‘Derby Pie’ Trademark Dispute
15. USPTO v Booking.com: Whether a “.com” can transform a generic mark into a registrable trademark under the Lanham Act 
16. The Trademark Modernization Act Establishes New Trademark Cancellation Procedures 
17. United States: Key considerations in parallel criminal and civil trade secrets cases 
18. Ten Trade Secret Resolutions to Keep for 2021 and Beyond 
19. Court Rejects Attempt to “Stretch” Patent Claim Language 
20. Watch What You Say! Prosecution History Estoppel in Canada 
21. Election Ballot Verification – A Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis 
22. Patent Owner’s ex parte communications with members of Congress, the president, and PTAB APJs are sanctionable and the Board may craft its own reasonable sanctions 
23. Patent protection in the time of COVID-19
24. Why standard essential patents are now essential to you
25. The Right to Repair in Massachusetts Rolls Forward 
26. Not Patent Misuse to License U.S. Patents in Foreign Jurisdictions for “Administrative Convenience” 
27. 10 Patent Prosecution, Litigation Practice Trends From 2020 
28. What Was Old Is New Again In IP Litigation — Thanks To Suspected Russian State-Sponsored Hack
29. What Were the Top Intellectual Property Stories in 2020? 
30. Cloud computing: overview of IP issues
31. The EU / UK Trade Agreement: Three myths busted – Intellectual property

PRIVACY

1. Trends to watch in 2021 – Privacy: issues in a hyper-connected world
2. Privacy and Our New Virtual World
3. Internet-Connected Chastity Cages Hit By Bitcoin Ransom Hack
4. DOJ, US Court System Latest To Announce They’re Victims Of The Massive Solarwinds Hack
5. Proactive Steps to Address the Issues Raised after Cyberattack on U.S. Federal Judiciary’s Electronic Filing System
6. The SolarWinds hack is stunning. Here’s what should be done
7. FTC Settles With Photo App Over Use of Facial Recognition Technology
8. New York and Others Settle with CafePress Over 2019 Data Breach
9. Cops Love Body Camera Footage… When It Clears Officers Of Any Wrongdoing
10. Fifth Circuit Tosses Child Porn Conviction Predicated On Unconstitutional Searches Of Three Cellphones
11. Five Key Developments in the Privacy and Data Security Sector in 2020 and Five Predictions for 2021

GAMES

1. ESA suspends political contributions after assault on U.S. Capitol
2. ESA PAC to pause political contributions following insurrection at US Capitol
3. Twitch suspends Trump account following insurrection at US Capitol
4. Updated: Twitch, Discord suspend Trump-related accounts after Capitol assault
5. Twitch removes popular emote after pro player’s support for Capitol Hill mob
6. Twitch pulls Pogchamp emote over link to Capitol siege supporter
7. Twitch removes PogChamp emote it says was “the face of… further violence”
8. Riot and Bungie file lawsuit against Destiny 2 and Valorant cheat-maker 
9. Riot Games and Bungie file joint lawsuit against cheatmakers
10. Koei Tecmo says it will sue over bootleg Dead or Alive video
11. Dangen Entertainment settles dispute with Protoculture Games
12. Nintendo Appears To Be Using A Fan-Made Drawing Of Mario Without Artist’s Permission Or Credit
13. Legal risks and implications of hyper-realistic videogames
14. CD Projekt apologizes again for Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles
15. CD Projekt faces scrutiny from consumer protection org over Cyberpunk 2077
16. CDPR CEO blames “in-game streaming” for Cyberpunk’s console problems
17. CD Projekt leadership vows no ‘obligatory overtime’ during Cyberpunk 2077 fixes
18. Polish competition watchdog investigating Cyberpunk 2077
19. Capcom confirms at least 16,000 people affected by Nov. data breach
20. Personal information of 16,415 people compromised during Capcom security breach
21. Capcom security breach compromised personal data of 16,415 people
22. Take-Two officially ends pursuit of Codemasters following EA offer
23. Take-Two withdraws bid for Codemasters following EA offer of $1.2bn
24. Wolfenstein 3D + Super Monkey Ball = free Nazi-flattening fun!
25. Payload Studios launches incubator for underrepresented developers
26. FTC wary of Apple and Google “squeezing developers”
27. The FTC slams Tapjoy over deceptive ads, pledges to keep ‘gatekeeping giants’ in check
28. FTC Settles With Mobile-Game Platform for Misleading In-Game Advertisements
29. FTC Pursues Advertising Network that Failed to Deliver In-Game Rewards in Exchange for Payment or Personal Information
30. Federal Trade Commission orders Tapjoy to better police fraudulent advertising
31. Peter Moore: FIFA Ultimate Team is a “long way” from gambling
32. EA’s hold over Star Wars games ends with Ubisoft’s open-world announcement
33. Lucasfilm Games taps Ubisoft Massive to create new open-world Star Wars title
34. Lucasfilm re-establishes Lucasfilm Games as home for all its gaming titles
35. Star Wars games are now housed under a revived Lucasfilm Games brand
36. Disney brings back the Lucasfilm Games brand for future Star Wars titles
37. Bethesda lands Indiana Jones license
38. Bethesda, Lucasfilm tease new Indiana Jones video game
39. Lucasfilm and Ubisoft partner on Star Wars game
40. GameStop holiday sales down 3.1% in 2020
41. GameStop: Fewer stores, ‘industry-wide decline’, supply woes led to holiday sales slide
42. N95 masks, gamer style: Razer’s crazy face-mask prototype revealed
43. Video Games & the Novel (Eric Hayot)
44. Video games have replaced music as the most important aspect of youth culture
45. Forget power fantasies: pandemic-era players crave companionship | Opinion
46. What will a post-pandemic games industry look like? | This Week in Business
47. Tencent confirms 1m Nintendo Switch shipments in China
48. Amazon’s 2020 gaming best-sellers again led by gift cards, Switch games
49. Nintendo Switch dominates Top Ten as lockdown boosts game sales | UK Boxed Charts
50. 43 million games sold in the UK in 2020 | UK Annual Report
51. Number of mobile gamers increased 50% in the UK due to COVID-19
52. Core gamers generated 66% of mobile revenues in 2020
53. Newzoo sees mobile marketing upheaval in 2021
54. Nerts! is the free, pleasant six-player card game we could all use right now
55. GameFly introduces movies-only subscription
56. Tilting Point signs $10 million publishing deal with South Korean dev Storytaco
57. Best Fiends publisher Playtika launches $1.6B IPO
58. Playtika launches IPO, looks to raise as much as $1.6b
59. Roblox to go public through direct listing, not IPO
60. Roblox secures fresh $520 million investment, outlines plans for direct listing
61. Turtle Beach acquires Neat Microphones
62. Epic acquires Rad Game Tools
63. Steam saw 21% more games sold in 2020
64. Over 8 million demos played during 2020’s Steam Festivals (and other nifty Steam stats)
65. How did Rust make $1 million in Steam revenue in a day – twice?
66. Genvid targets “a huge opportunity for game developers” with Rival Peak
67. The future is digital — right?
68. What does 2021 hold for the African games industry?
69. What I learned playing 30+ years’ worth of Jeopardy! video games
70. Handheld hardships | 10 Years Ago This Month
71. Twitter says gaming posts up 75% in 2020
72. Streamer TheGrefg breaks Twitch peak concurrent viewership records
73. Twitch, Facebook see best months for viewership yet in December
74. Dolphin Entertainment acquires esports and game PR agency B/HI
75. B/HI acquired by Dolphin Entertainment
76. Financing in the Esports sector
77. Oculus Quest 2 players make up nearly half of Rec Room’s 1 million VR-using MAUs
78. Making Chestnut Grove (a game set in the pandemic) during the pandemic
79. Blog: Deconstructing the product strategy of PC Building Simulator
80. Blog: Have video games become products like any other?
81. Blog: Studying physical elements of play 
82. Blog: How many currencies should my game have?
83. Blog: How studios can prevent unauthorized spending in games
84. Don’t Miss: The challenges BioWare faced designing Mass Effect 3
85. Don’t Miss: A 2014 Lucasfilm Games postmortem, told by those who lived it
86. Don’t Miss: Leveraging physical animation to sell Force powers in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
87. Video: The appeal of ‘legacy’ board games
88. GI 100 | Game Changers

Jon