Articles Posted in Intellectual Property

On Monday the Ninth Circuit ruled that animals do not have standing to sue people for breaking copyright laws. Had Congress intended for copyright protection to extend to animals, the should have expressly written it into the law, the three-judge panel concluded.

The largest social media company in the world faces another legal battle. On Monday, April 16, 2018, US District Judge James Donato ruled in San Francisco federal court that a class action lawsuit could proceed with the allegation that Facebook illegally collected and stored its users biometric data without their permission.

Earlier this month, online dating app developer Match Group, Tinder’s parent company, sued fellow dating app company Bumble for utility and design patent infringement, trademark infringement, and trade secret misappropriation. The suit was filed in the Western District of Texas.

On Tuesday, March 20, 2018, Facebook Inc. was sued by its investors in San Francisco federal court over a claim that the social media company failed to uphold privacy for its users. Investors stated that they faced losses due to the company’s connection to a UK-based research firm, Cambridge Analytica, that collected data for 50 million users without their permission. The same research firm is also connected to President Donald Trump.

On March 13, 2018, Jamaican songwriter Michael May filed a complaint in New York federal court against pop artist Miley Cyrus. May, who performs under the name Flourgon, alleges copyright infringement associated with some of the lyrics in Cyrus's 2013 song, "We Can't Stop."

Uber has found itself in yet another legal battle. On Monday, March 12, 2018, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed a lawsuit against the ride-sharing company based in San Francisco, California after it took over a year to notify its users about a major data breach. Hackers compromised the company’s data back in October 2016;…