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Category Archives: Social Media

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Chinese E-Commerce Giant Joins Forces with China’s Largest Microblogging Platform

By Joanne Sum-Ping on Posted in Social Media, Transactions

Alibaba, China’s largest e-commerce company, recently made headlines by committing to purchase an 18% stake in Weibo, China’s largest microblogging platform, for $586 million. The deal reportedly gives Alibaba an option to increase its stake to 30%. The alliance will allow Alibaba to drive more web traffic to its e-commerce sites.  With over 500 million registered… Continue Reading

Craigslist wins first step against screenscapers – lesson for drafting TOUs

By Nigel Howard on Posted in Intellectual Property, Social Media, Transactions

On April 29, Craigslist was successful in fighting off a motion to dismiss filed by three screenscraping sites (3Taps, Padmapper and Lovely) in its pending litigation in the Northern District of California.   In Craigslist Inc. v. 3Taps Inc., No. CV 12-03816 (N.D. Cal.), Craigslist sued these sites, alleging that their scraping of Craigslist content violated… Continue Reading

SEC Approves Use of Social Media to Communicate With Investors, But Warns Companies to Proceed With Caution

By Sarah Tremont on Posted in Social Media

The SEC has confirmed that public companies can use social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to disseminate material information, provided that investors are alerted in advance that information will be disclosed in this fashion. This guidance came in a Report of Investigation under Section 21(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, issued… Continue Reading

Apple Changes Warranty Policy in China Following State Media Attacks

By Joanne Sum-Ping on Posted in Social Media, Spectrum & Mobile, Telecommunications

By Joanne Sum-Ping with research assistance by Susan Shao After enduring weeks of attacks from Chinese state-owned media, Apple has announced a change in its warranty policy in China.  The attacks began on March 15 when China Central Television (CCTV) criticized Apple’s customer service policies during a special program observing World Consumer Rights Day.  CCTV’s… Continue Reading

Proposed Florida Law Would Require Warrants for Cellphone Searches

By Elizabeth Spavins on Posted in Intellectual Property, Privacy & Data Security, Social Media

Florida lawmakers have proposed that the government be required to obtain a warrant before searching the contents of “portable electronic devices” or tracking their locations.  The bill, S.B. 846, was introduced by State Representative Jeff Brandes and would go into effect on July 1, 2013. The proposed Florida law would apply to “portable electronic devices,”… Continue Reading

FTC Settles Deception, COPPA Charges Against Social Networking App Path

By Lindsey Tonsager on Posted in Privacy & Data Security, Social Media

Path, a social networking mobile app, has agreed to enter into a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) regarding charges that the company deceived consumers by collecting contact information from users’ mobile address books without notice and consent.  The agreement also resolves charges that the company violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”)… Continue Reading

Netflix Settles Online Closed Captioning Litigation

By Dan Kahn on Posted in Social Media

Recently, Netflix settled a lawsuit brought by the National Association for the Deaf (NAD) that alleged that its online closed captioning practices violated the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).  As a part of the settlement, Netflix agreed to caption all of its “Watch Instantly” programming by September 30, 2014.  Until then, Netflix will provide a… Continue Reading

FCC Extends Online Closed Captioning User Control Mandate Until January 2014

By Dan Kahn on Posted in Broadcasting & Cable, Social Media

On Friday, the FCC’s Media Bureau issued a decision that extends until January 1, 2014 the deadline for all online video programming distributors (“VPDs”) to implement user controls in connection with their delivery of Internet Protocol closed captioning.   Prior to this decision, VPDs that provide applications or plug-ins in order to deliver video programming had… Continue Reading