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In a recent case, Petronas v. Godaddy.com, the Ninth Circuit held that “contributory cybersquatting” was not a valid theory for relief. This case addressed the issue of whether the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”) allows for secondary liability.

What Are the Facts?

Plaintiff, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (aka “Petronas”) is a Malaysian government-owned entity. Petronas holds the American trademark “PETRONAS.” The entity also owns the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. Defendant, Godaddy.com, is the world’s largest domain name registrar. The case revolves around a third party who registered the domain names petronastower.net and petronastowers.net in 2003. In 2007, the party began using Godaddy’s domain forwarding services to direct the domain names to an adult website. Petronas sued Godaddy for cybersquatting and contributory cybersquatting. In general, cybersquatting is the act of holding a trademark hostage in the form of a domain name and forcing the trademark owner to negotiate an unreasonable price for the domain. Although Godaddy did investigate the alleged cybersquatting, ultimately, they did not take any action.

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In general, lawsuits involve harmed parties and controversial facts. However, in some cases, the facts are especially sensitive, posing serious detrimental consequences for one or more parties. This threat exists regardless of how the court decides the case. These cases include matters involving, among others, child victims, sexual abuse, and hate crimes. To help protect privacy interests, courts will sometimes allow a party to appear anonymously under a pseudonym–for example, John Doe or Jane Doe.

What Is the Basis of A Party’s Right to Anonymity in Court Proceedings?

According to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10(a), parties to a lawsuit are required to include their names in their court filings. To determine whether the option to file anonymously is appropriate, courts will balance the related competing interests between the parties. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals first introduced this test in Doe v. Stegall, a case involving prayer in public schools. The court explained that the issue of party anonymity required a balancing of interests in full disclosure against the party’s right to privacy. The courts apply this test on a case-by-case basis. Although, there are no firm factors to help guide this analysis, a review of the different policy interests will help reach a conclusion. However, allowing a party to file a case anonymously violates two fundamental principles of the judicial process. First, an accused party has a constitutional right to confront the accuser. This is a principle contained in the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees the right to face and question an accuser. Second, central to the American judicial system is the right of the public to have access to court documents. Where parties remain anonymous, the public is deprived of its right to access court documents.

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In 2013, Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee, and National Security Agency (“NSA”) contractor, leaked top secret documents to the public. These documents detailed the NSA’s controversial electronic surveillance practices and procedures, sparking a debate about wiretapping and privacy laws. Snowden revealed that the government employed questionable electronic surveillance programs. The controversy circles around the potential privacy violations surrounding government agency practices to monitor communications. Since then, the Obama Administration has been under pressure to address individual privacy concerns. Last month, President Obama addressed the nation and introduced proposed changes to current electronic surveillance practices.

What Are the Current Wiretapping Laws, Before President Obama’s Proposed Amendments?

Wiretapping has been possible since the invention of the telephone. The procedure gets its name from earlier methods, which required officials to physically place electrical taps on telephone lines. Wiretapping is a constitutional and legal practice. In most cases, officials must secure a warrant from a judge beforehand. However, federal intelligence agencies can apply to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (“FISA”), under secret proceedings, for court approval. In some circumstances, these agencies can proceed with approval from the United States Attorney General, without court approval. In the event that the agency does need to secure a warrant before wiretapping, courts typically apply a very strict standard of review before granting approval. For instance, the judge will look to ensure there are no other less intrusive methods to gather information. In general, the courts look at wiretapping as a last resort. Alternatively, if a party who is participating in a call, records the call and produces it to a government agency, the agency does not need prior court approval. The agency is then at liberty to use the contents of the recorded phone call for its purposes.

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In general, the federal government enforces privacy rights at the federal level and state governments regulate privacy standards at the state level. Depending on the area of privacy laws at issue, different government agencies have enforcement authority. For example, Office of the Attorney General, Federal Trade Commission, and Department of Health and Human Services have certain enforcement authority.

What are federal privacy rights?

The federal Privacy Act of 1974 applies privacy standards for the information that federal executives and agencies can access and disclose. However, these requirements apply only to information about U.S. citizens and legal alien residents. They do not apply to illegal immigrants or corporations.

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In recent years, online transactions, such as activities on social media networks, have exposed personal privacy to greater risks. With so much personal information available over the Internet, it is increasingly important to be aware of the applicable laws, so that your privacy is better enforced and protected. The risks can include identity theft, and data, medical, financial, or workplace breaches.

In the United States, there are overarching federal privacy laws that apply to the states. Also, each state has its own privacy laws. In general, the states can provide greater privacy protection than federal laws, but they cannot provide less protection. Privacy right violations can lead to both civil and criminal penalties, depending on the extent of the violation and the applicable laws.

What are the applicable privacy laws in California?

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Tort litigation, unlike criminal litigation, involves civil wrongs committed against a party or entity–such as a corporation. A plaintiff must demonstrate in court that the defendant is liable for plaintiff’s damages to be successful in a tort case. Mass tort litigation involves very much the same concepts except the number of plaintiffs and defendants is different. Specifically, mass tort litigation involves large numbers of plaintiffs who have suffered an injury at the hands of the same defendant, or group of defendants.

What Is Mass Tort Litigation?

Mass tort litigation involves a single wrongful act that results in harm to several victims. These types of cases involve many plaintiffs, who are all suing defendants for the wrongful act. Generally, mass tort litigation involves cases where a large group of plaintiffs are injured by defective drugs, or defective products. Cases dealing with defective drugs, or pharmaceutical claims, deal with medical products that have caused injury to consumers. These cases include both over-the-counter and doctor prescribed drugs. Alternatively, defective product cases involve consumer product claims where plaintiffs have sustained injuries, or even died, from defective products. Courts must grant permission for parties to proceed with mass tort litigation. Courts will look to see how many plaintiffs are involved, how far these consumers are located from one another, whether there are similar injuries among the plaintiffs, and whether the injuries come from a common cause or product. This last factor is necessary for a mass tort case. Otherwise, courts balance the other three factors to determine whether a case is properly deemed mass tort litigation.

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Class action lawsuits are a staple in the American court system. The notion that there is strength in numbers is shown in the extraordinarily large settlements that come from these cases. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in class action suits involving internet-based companies (e.g., Facebook, Google, Tumblr, Instagram, or MySpace).

As consumers spend more time on the Internet, sharing their work, preferences, and private information, there is a growing potential for internet law violations. Since numerous consumers engage in same or similar activities, e.g., use email to send/receive information, a single violation implicates the rights of a large group of consumers. In turn, this sparks a class action suit.

How Are Class Action Lawsuits Different From Other Suits?

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On December 19, 2013, Target issued a statement confirming a major security breach. According to the statement, approximately 40 million customers were at risk for identity theft because of the breach. Hackers had gained access to customer information, including their names, credit card numbers, debit card numbers, card expiration dates, and security codes. This incident brought light to the ongoing threat of identify theft for customers who use credit or debit cards to make purchases, either in stores or online. With this growing threat, consumers need to take care to protect themselves against potential attacks.

What Is the Extent of the Target Security Breach?

According to Target’s investigations, the hackers began accessing customer information from before Thanksgiving until mid-December. With the information they stole, which is stored on a card’s magnetic strip, the hackers could have made purchases all around the world. Indeed, hackers can also use this information to create new credit or debit cards. Although, there is no evidence the hackers also stole pin numbers, but if they had, they could have withdrawn money from customers’ bank accounts. The United States Secret Service is looking into this massive security breach. In the past, federal and state authorities have held companies liable, even issuing fines, if investigations reveal that a company did not take adequate steps to protect customer information. Analysts predict that here Target may have to spend over $100 million in legal costs to fix the security breach. Costs will increase even more if it’s forced to reimburse credit card companies for fraudulent purchases. However, in the meantime, Target’s first priority has been to act quickly to secure and protect customer information. Although, they have not reached any conclusions, initial investigations suggest the breach could have come entirely from outside hackers, or it could have been achieved with help from its employees. Either way, this level of a security breach suggests that it reached deep within the corporation.

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As an unfortunate consequence of the Internet’s expansion and usage of social media networks, online users are vulnerable to attacks in the form of cyberstalking, cyberharassment, and cyberbullying. In an effort to restore online safety, the California Legislature has imposed certain laws to provide protection to the victims.

What Remedies are Available in Cyberstalking Cases?

Cyberstalking is a form of online harassment, with the unique requirement of repeated and ongoing behavior. The remedies available to victims of cyberstalking first depend on whether the defendant’s conduct was civil or criminal in nature. Under California Civil Code section 1708.7, civil “cyberstalking” consists of a pattern of behavior that intends to “follow, alarm, or harass” the plaintiff, causing a reasonable fear for safety. A plaintiff may also be able to seek remedies if the reasonable fear for safety was for his or her immediate family members (e.g. parent, child, or spouse). To constitute cyberstalking, the pattern of behavior must take place over electronic equipment, such as telephones, computers, fax machines, or pagers. In these cases, the victims may collect financial damages, including punitive damages (e.g. a financial “punishment” to deter similar behavior in the future). Additionally, a victim of cyberstalking may ask the court to issue an injunction or temporary restraining order, which includes a court order preventing the defendant from contacting the victim in the future.

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According to changes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”), which went into effect on October 16, 2013, telemarketers must now obtain prior express consent before contacting a consumer’s wireless or landline telephone numbers using automated telephone dialing systems. Do you list your wireless telephone number for your contact information with credit card companies, banks, or utility providers? Do you receive unsolicited phone calls on your wireless telephone number regarding promotions or billing information? Are you concerned with protecting your identity and privacy? Are you a company that uses telemarketing calls to solicit customers and increase your business? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, the latest changes to the TCPA may affect you. Please contact us today to speak with an attorney who can explain how these new amendments will alter your telephone communication privacy settings and responsibilities.

What are the New Requirements Under the Amendments to the TCPA?

Pursuant to the provisions of the new amendments, to obtain prior express consent, telemarketers must have consent in writing. Under the federal Electronic Signatures In Global and National Commerce Act (“ESIGN”), digital signatures that comply with the standards of the act will count as sufficient consent in writing. Next, the consent must specifically refer to the telephone number that the consumer authorizes as a point of contact for future telemarketing calls. Additionally, the written consent must clearly state that the consumer authorizes telemarketers to use prerecorded messages and automated telephone dialing systems in future communications. Finally, if a consumer is required to provide this consent in order to purchase any goods or services, then the consent is not valid. All four factors must be satisfied in order to have valid consent under the TCPA.

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