Month: February 2020

February 13, 2020 Section 230

Ninth Circuit: Section 230 barred tortious interference claim

Amazon.com scored a Ninth Circuit win on Section 230 grounds when the court affirmed the lower court’s summary judgment against a pro se plaintiff’s claim against Amazon for tortious interference with prospective and actual business relations, and interference with an economic advantage. The claim apparently arose out of a third party posting a review on Amazon that plaintiff did not like. Citing to Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., 570 F.3d 1096 (9th Cir. 2009), the court observed that the Communications Decency Act (at Section 230(c)(1)) provides immunity from liability if a claim “inherently requires the court to treat the defendant as the ‘publisher or speaker’ of content provided by another.” Plaintiff had failed to raise a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether Amazon was not a publisher or speaker of content within the meaning of Section 230.

Sen v. Amazon.com, 2020 WL 708701 (9th Cir. February 12, 2020)

February 1, 2020 Contracts

Are your terms and conditions enforceable?

Are your terms and conditions enforceable?

If customers use your website or online service or app, you need to have enforceable terms and conditions. That way, if there is some dispute, you can control over how it’s resolved,. You can also contain the costs by putting an arbitration clause in the terms and conditions. Instead of an expensive lawsuit, you can resolve it in arbitration which is often less expensive, quicker, and more private.

For terms and conditions to be enforceable, one must prove that the customer actually agreed to them. You’d be surprised how often companies find themselves in the expensive hassle of fighting over whether their terms are enforceable, then finding out they’re not.  This can cause them to miss out on the cost savings and efficiency of arbitration.

This happened just just this week. A federal court of appeals ruled that an app developer didn’t structure the interface in a way to put users on notice of the terms. So since the developer couldn’t prove the users saw the terms, the case will proceed in court instead of arbitration.

And perhaps even worse, the case will probably move forward as a class action. Had the terms been enforceable, it would probably have just been limited to one-on-one lawsuits. That would have been much better for the developer.

If you’d like to discuss your terms and conditions, drop me a line or give me a call.

See also: Browsewrap enforceable: hyperlinked terms on defendant’s website gave reasonable notice

Benson v. Double Down Interactive, LLC, 2020 WL 468422 (9th Cir. January 29, 2020)

About the author:Evan Brown is a technology and intellectual property attorney in Chicago. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram, connect on LinkedIn and subscribe to his YouTube channel for videos on interesting topics about law and technology. 

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