Two California attorneys drew $2,500 fines, six-month Ninth Circuit suspensions, and mandatory AI-disclosure orders after filing briefs that cited cases that did not exist. The court held that an attorney’s signature attests to personal verification of every citation, no matter who or what dra
The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for Igloo, holding that ‘first to market’ advertising claims about a biodegradable cooler concern the origin of an idea — not an observable product characteristic — and therefore fall outside the Lanham Act’s false advertising protections
The Ninth Circuit upheld an injunction barring a venture lender from interfering with Google’s royalty-free license to manufacture specialized computer chips, affirming that Google’s licensing rights survived the shutdown of its startup partner CNEX Labs.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of claims by Rohingya plaintiffs alleging Facebook’s algorithm amplified anti-Rohingya violence in Myanmar, holding that Section 230 immunizes Meta from liability for algorithmically recommending third-party content — though two concurring opinions urged th
The Ninth Circuit ruled that Section 230 bars claims by Rohingya plaintiffs alleging that Facebook’s algorithmic design fueled genocide in Myanmar, but two concurrences urged the court to reconsider the sweeping scope of the immunity.
The Ninth Circuit ruled that a California federal judge applied local meet-and-confer rules too rigidly when denying a new trial motion in a willful copyright infringement case over the unauthorized DVD distribution of a Christian film.
On the second trip up, the Ninth Circuit vacated most of the district court’s preliminary injunction against California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act — but kept the data-use and dark-patterns restrictions enjoined on vagueness grounds, leaving the statute partially in force.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment against celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson, holding that the exercise sequences in her 19 fitness DVDs are functional routines — not expressive choreographic works — and therefore unprotectable under copyright law.
The Ninth Circuit held that NFTs qualify as ‘goods’ under the Lanham Act and reversed summary judgment for Yuga Labs on Bored Ape Yacht Club trademark and cybersquatting claims, finding genuine factual disputes for trial.
The Ninth Circuit held that the copyright first sale doctrine does not apply to foreign-made goods, allowing Omega to prevent Costco from reselling Omega watches in the United States without authorization — a ruling the Supreme Court affirmed by an equally divided 4-4 court in 2010, leaving the Nint
The Ninth Circuit held that Google’s display of thumbnail-size images in search results is fair use, while also addressing the server test for direct infringement — holding that a website that inline-links to content stored on another server does not ‘display’ that content and thus
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s injunction requiring Napster to block access to infringing content — holding that Napster’s peer-to-peer music file sharing service was liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement and that the Sony Betamax staple article de
The Ninth Circuit held that a flea market operator could be vicariously and contributorily liable for copyright infringement by vendors selling counterfeit recordings — establishing the framework for secondary copyright liability that would later be applied to online platforms and peer-to-peer servi