Articles Posted in Internet Law

Social media law comprises of several different components including free speech, privacy, online advertisement, and intellectual property rights. These issues come up regularly during the course of online transactions between parties. The courts have been inundated with social media litigation and have issued their rulings when faced with complicated problems.

The cases that arise on social media platforms involve state and federal laws such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and Communications Decency Act. In essence, these federal statutes were promulgated to protect copyrights and free speech rights.

According to the United States Copyright Office, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), which amended federal copyright laws, was passed to address important parts of the relationship between copyright and the internet. The three main updates were: (1) establishing protections for online service providers in certain situations if their users engage in copyright infringement, including by creating the notice-and-takedown system, which allows copyright owners to inform online service providers about infringing material so it can be taken down; (2) encouraging copyright owners to give greater access to their works in digital formats by providing them with legal protections against unauthorized access to their works (for example, hacking passwords or circumventing encryption); and (3) making it unlawful to provide false copyright management information (e.g., names of authors and copyright owners, titles of works) or to remove or alter that type of information in certain circumstances.

Social media litigation can be caused or initiated for various reasons related to privacy violations, online defamation, internet harassment, contractual disputes, and intellectual property violations.

Privacy violations take place when a company does not adhere to its terms of use or privacy policy. The terms of use and privacy policy on a website constitutes a legally-enforceable contract. The terms and conditions should be carefully read by visitors because the continued use of the website may constitute implied consent even if the website doesn’t require clicking on a “I Agree” box. Stated otherwise, if you visit a website, you can be bound by its terms and conditions.

Online defamation takes place when a false factual statement, that is not privileged, is published and damages the victim’s reputation in the community. The statement must be a fact and not an opinion. There are several defenses to defamation such as truth and absolute or qualified privilege. Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. According to Civil Code Section 47(a), a privileged publication or broadcast is one made: (1) in the proper discharge of an official duty; (2) in any legislative proceeding; (3) in any judicial proceeding; (4) in any other official proceeding authorized by law; or (5) in the initiation or course of any other proceeding authorized by law and reviewable by mandamus. The concept of “qualified privilege” applies to employers under the following conditions: Employers can make statements about their employees as long as the statement is not malicious and was made to third parties with a common interest in the subject matter. Malice can be proven by showing ill-will, hatred, or lack of reasonable grounds when the statement was made to a third party.

Social media litigation has become increasingly prevalent for obvious reasons. This is simply because multiple issues come up on social media websites and platforms. The objective of this article is to discuss them.

Business entrepreneurs, owners, and operators, who have an online presence on various social media websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram must know the rules and regulations.

The first step any business owner should take to launch the operations is to ensure there are properly drafted contracts with all parties. The contracts should yield the proper provisions to help protect the parties in a fair and reasonable manner.

International service of process involves the formal service of legal documents on foreign litigants. In general, legal documents should be served on the interested parties once the lawsuit is filed with the clerk. The documents usually include a summons and complaint. In most cases, the plaintiff personally serves the defendant with the legal documents. In some cases, the plaintiff can serve the legal documents by substituted service.

Now, for international service of process, the parties should refer to international treaties which outline the delivery parameters of legal documents to foreign litigants. The United States is a signatory to the Hague Service Convention and Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory.

The Hague Service Convention allows service of process on parties who reside in countries which are also signatories to this international treaty. In 1969, it became formally effective in the United States. The United States government undertook a reciprocal treaty obligation toward those countries by joining the convention which have also adopted it, to serve in the United States documents issued by foreign judicial authorities. It applies only to foreign documents which are related to civil cases and does not apply to documents related to criminal proceedings. The President has designated the Department of Justice as a “central authority” for these proceedings. The Assistant Attorney General, under 28 C.F.R. 0.49, who is in charge of the Civil Division is able to direct and supervise the functions of the central authority. Moreover, under 28 U.S.C. 1781, the Department of State is authorized to receive requests for service of foreign judicial documents from foreign courts and to transfer them to the proper agency.