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James is a shareholder in Weintraub Tobin’s litigation section.  He represents corporate and individual clients in both state and federal courts in various business litigation matters, including trade secret misappropriation, unfair business competition, stockholder disputes, and intellectual property disputes.

The Ninth Circuit was recently asked to address the “public interest” exemption to California’s anti-SLAPP law in a class action lawsuit brought by a Plaintiff whose photo and personal information were used without her consent to advertise subscriptions to a website. The case, Martinez v. ZoomInfo Technologies, Inc. (decided Sep. 21, 2023), posed interesting substantive and procedural issues concerning the interplay between one’s intellectual property rights and California’s anti-SLAPP law.Continue Reading IP Rights and the “Public Good” Exemption to California’s Anti-SLAPP Law

On June 7, 2023, the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in VHT, Inc. v. Zillow Group, Inc., in which it affirmed the trial court’s findings of infringement against Zillow and the award of statutory damages. In 2019, the Ninth Circuit had previously found mostly in Zillow’s favor as to an earlier trial and had reversed and remanded the case back for further proceedings.Continue Reading Zillow Loses Second Round of Copyright Fight Over Real Estate Photos

On April 24, 2023, the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in Epic Games, Inc. v. Apple, Inc., and affirmed the trial court’s ruling in Apple’s favor as to Epic’s Sherman Act claim for restraint of trade relating to Apple’s distribution of apps in its App Store. (This article does not address the other antitrust and state law claims also at issue in the 91-page opinion.)The legal battle involved “a multi-trillion dollar technology company” (Apple) versus “a multi-billion dollar video game company” (Epic).Continue Reading Apple Prevails on “Epic” Antitrust Claim

The Ninth Circuit addressed whether parties can contractually agree to shorten the statute of limitations for copyright infringement claims.
Continue Reading Ninth Circuit Reaffirms That Parties Can Contractually Shorten Statute of Limitations Period for Copyright Infringement Claims