Judge Rejects Amazon's Effort to Dismiss FTC's Antitrust Suit

A federal judge has ruled that the Federal Trade Commission can proceed with its case that Amazon operates as an illegal monopoly, handing agency chair Lina Khan a preliminary win in her legal campaign to rein in the power of Big Tech companies. In a sealed order, U.S. District Judge John Chun delivered a blow to Amazon’s months-long efforts to have the agency’s landmark case dismissed, according to two people familiar with the ruling, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the nonpublic document.

SEC Appeals Court Order Restricting Regulation of Crypto Markets

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it is appealing a court ruling that restricted its ability to regulate cryptocurrency markets. Wall Street's main securities regulator will ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan to review a July 2023 decision that the XRP token sold by Ripple Labs on public exchanges did not meet the legal definition of a security.

Judge Says Section 230 Protects eBay from Environmental Laws

A federal judge dismissed a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit accusing eBay of violating environmental laws by allowing the sale of hundreds of thousands of harmful products on its platform, including pesticides and devices to evade motor vehicle pollution controls. U.S. District Judge Orelia Merchant in Brooklyn ruled that Section 230 of the federal Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms from liability over user content, shielded eBay from liability in the civil lawsuit.

Epic Games Sues Google, Samsung for Protecting Google's Play Store

"Fortnite" video game maker Epic Games accused Alphabet's Google and Samsung, the world's largest Android phone manufacturer, of conspiring to protect Google's Play store from competition. Epic filed a lawsuit, in U.S. federal court in California alleging that a Samsung mobile security feature called Auto Blocker was intended to deter users from downloading apps from sources other than the Play store or Samsung's Galaxy store, which the Korean company chose to put on the back burner.

Brazil's Supreme Court Says X Owes $5 Million Fine to Resume Service

Brazil's Supreme Court said that social platform X still needs to pay just over $5 million in pending fines, including a new one, before it will be allowed to resume its service in the country, according to a court document. The Elon Musk-owned U.S. firm told the court it had complied with orders to stop the spread of misinformation and asked it to lift a ban on the platform.

Justice Department Charges Three Iranians with Hacking Trump Campaign

Three Iranian operatives have been charged with hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as part of what the Justice Department says was a sweeping effort to undermine the former president and erode confidence in the U.S. electoral system. The action, coupled with sanctions and rewards for information leading to the accused hackers’ capture, is the latest U.S. government effort to call out what’s seen as Iran’s attempts to interfere in the election by damaging Trump and sowing general chaos.

Indian Health Insurer Sues Telegram After Chatbots Leaked Data

Top Indian insurer Star Health has sued Telegram and a self-styled hacker after Reuters reported that the hacker was using chatbots on the messaging app to leak personal data and medical reports of policy holders. The lawsuit comes amid growing scrutiny of Telegram globally and the arrest of its founder Pavel Durov in France last month, with the app's content moderation and features allegedly abused for illegal activities. Durov and Telegram denied wrongdoing and are addressing the criticism.

WordPress Bans Hosting Provider WP Engine Amid Legal Threats

WordPress drama went up another notch after WordPress.org, the open-source web hosting software, banned hosting provider WP Engine from accessing its resources. In a post on WordPress.org, WordPress co-creator and Automattic CEO, Matt Mullenweg, wrote that pending their legal claims, WP Engine will not have access to the platform’s resources, such as themes and plug-ins.

Google Files Antitrust Complainant Against Microsoft in EU

Google said it has filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft in the European Union, accusing Microsoft of using its dominance in business software to lock clients into its Azure cloud services. The search giant argues Microsoft is violating European competition laws by charging punitive fees for its customers to transfer projects running on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to a competing cloud service.

Former Top Amazon Seller in India Challenges Antitrust Probe

A former top Amazon seller in India has asked a judge to quash an antitrust investigation that found the U.S. e-commerce company and some of its sellers breached local competition laws, court records showed. Antitrust investigations conducted by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) have found Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart, some of their sellers and smartphone brands, violated local competition laws by giving preference to select online sellers and prioritizing certain listings, Reuters has reported

FTC Files Complaint Against 'The World's First Robot Lawyer'

The Federal Trade Commission announced a crackdown on what the regulator called “deceptive AI claims and schemes” by three business opportunity ventures and two companies, including the legal services firm DoNotPay. The FTC said the five enforcement cases it has filed show how the companies and ventures “have seized on the hype surrounding” artificial intelligence “and are using it to lure consumers into bogus schemes.”

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Chinese Hackers Reportedly Broke Into U.S. Internet Service Providers

Hackers linked to the Chinese government have broken into a handful of U.S. Internet service providers in recent months in pursuit of sensitive information, according to people familiar with the matter. The hacking campaign, called Salt Typhoon by investigators, hasn’t previously been publicly disclosed and is the latest in a series of incursions that U.S. investigators have linked to China in recent years.

House Committee Approves Two Child Safety Bills, But Hurdles Remain

A key House committee advanced two high-profile proposals to expand online privacy and safety protections for children, but political hurdles surfaced during the legislative markup that could imperil the effort, despite its broad bipartisan support. The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved by voice vote both the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and a bill to update existing federal privacy protections for children, known as COPPA 2.0 — two wins for advocates clamoring for Congress to safeguard minors online.

China, Taiwan Trade Allegations on Military-Backed Hacking Group

China's national security ministry said a Taiwan military-backed hacking group called Anonymous 64 has been carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, urging people to report "anti-propaganda sabotage." Taiwan's defense ministry denied the allegations, saying China was the real disturber of the peace with its cyber attacks and military harassment.

20 State Attorneys General Want Court to Reject Google Settlement

A group of Republican-led states have asked a U.S. appeals court to reject a $62 million consumer privacy settlement with Google, citing large amounts of money awards going to class members’ lawyers and advocacy groups. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R) led the group of 20 state attorneys general in arguing to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the settlement “replaces money that could go toward making class members whole with awards to controversial political organizations.”

Commerce Department Seeks Ban on Chinese Software in Cars

The U.S. Commerce Department proposed prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on American roads due to national security concerns. The Biden administration has raised serious concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on U.S. drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the internet and navigation systems.

The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online, using domain name dispute policies – such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – and other legal tools available to copyright and trademark owners on the Internet.