In Dryer, Bethea and White v. The National Football League, 14-3428 (8th Cir. February 26, 2016) (Available here), the Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the National Football League (“NFL”) on the appellant’s right-of-publicity and Lanham … [Read more...]
Florida’s No-Surcharge Credit Card Law Violates the First Amendment
In the recent 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision of Dana's Railroad Supply v. the Attorney General of the State of Florida (11th Circuit Court of Appeals, 14-14426 2015)(Available Here), the Court of Appeals determined that the Florida statute section 501.0117 violated the … [Read more...]
Elonis: Threshold of Proof Required For Threats on Social Media
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Elonis v. United States (Available Here), recently tackled an important threshold question of interpreting the Federal “threat” statute, 18.U.S.C. §875(c) and its interplay with the First Amendment. Unfortunately, the Court punted on the First Amendment … [Read more...]
User Comments On A Public Interest Website Do Not Violate Website’s User Agreement
The Appeals Court for the Fourth District Court of Appeals in California affirmed the special motion to strike a plaintiff’s complaint for being barred under the anti-SLAAP statute. Hupp v. Freedom Communications, Inc., Case No. #-57390 (Cal. 4th DCA, November 7, 2013) … [Read more...]
TripAdvisor’s List of Hotels Not Dirty Enough To Warrant A Finding Of Defamation
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a company’s list of the “dirtiest” hotels in America based on user reviews is an opinion and therefore protected speech. Seaton v. TripAdvisor LLC, Case No. 12-6122 (6th Cir. August 28, 2013) (available here). Kenneth Seaton owns the … [Read more...]
EA’s NCAA Football Video Game Violates Players’ Right Of Publicity
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals found that a college football player has a right to publicity claim against a video game company who used his likeness in its annual NCAA Football video game. Hart v. Electronic Arts, Inc., Case No. 11-3750 (3d Cir. May 21, 2013) (available … [Read more...]
Domain Name Entitled to First Amendment Protection
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a U.S. District Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a Texas law stating that the subject domain name may be commercial speech entitled to some First Amendment, freedom of speech rights. Gibson v. Texas … [Read more...]
Florida Appeals Court Reverses Injunction for Libel and Defamation as Being a Prior Restraint on Defendant’s Constitutional Right Free Speech
A broken romantic relationship devolved into a pattern of harassment, email hacking, offensive letters, naked photographs sent to third parties from the plaintiff’s email contact list, creation of a website, use of plaintiff’s name for multiple purposes, efforts by defendant to … [Read more...]
Florida Law Prohibiting Loud Music From Cars Declared Unconstitutional Under First Amendment
The Freedom of Speech clause of the First Amendment was cited in declaring unconstitutional a Florida statute that made it unlawful for any person in a motor vehicle to produce sound from a soundmaking device (for example, a CD player) which is “plainly audible at a distance of … [Read more...]
Constitutional Free Speech Invalidates False Claims of Military Honor Act
The U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Alvarez, Case No. 11-210 (June 28, 2012) (available here) ruled that the Stolen Valor Act, 18 U.S.C. sec 204(b) and (c) was an unconstitutional abridgement of Free Speech under the First Amendment. The Act made criminal false claims about receipt … [Read more...]
