Technology & Internet Appellate Expertise

Sonnenschein’s Appellate Practice has distinguished itself by having argued and won landmark decisions involving technology, internet law, computer fraud and abuse, surveillance and privacy.  Few appellate practices can claim as much breadth and depth on novel and cutting-edge issues involving the intersection of law and technology.  In the past few years, Sonnenschein’s appellate litigators have briefed and argued technology cases on behalf of parties and amici curiae consisting of satellite providers, ISPs, video game developers, and other IP owners in nearly every federal appellate court, including cases involving classified national security matters.  Also, having served as national appellate counsel for DIRECTV in satellite piracy cases for the last four years, Sonnenschein also has significant experience in developing national appellate strategies designed to preserve and enhance legal protection for technology and innovation.  Sonnenschein has also argued in cases involving an array of amici curiae interest groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology.

Representative Technology and Internet Appellate Matters

In Snow v. DIRECTV, Inc., 450 F.3d 1314 (11th Cir. 2006), Sonnenschein represented DIRECTV on appeal in a case where plaintiff alleged that DIRECTV had violated the Stored Communications Act by accessing the plaintiff’s website despite the plaintiff's disclaimer advising that DIRECTV was not authorized to enter the website.  On behalf of DIRECTV, Sonnenschein convinced the Eleventh Circuit to affirm the district court’s grant of DIRECTV’s motion to dismiss on the grounds that violation of a website disclaimer is not actionable under the Stored Communications Act where the website is technologically configured to be accessible to the general public.

In Chicago Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, Inc. v. Craigslist, Inc., 519 F.3d 666 (7th Cir. 2008), Sonnenschein represented amicus group consisting of Amazon.com, Inc., AOL LLC, Cable News Networks, Inc., Ebay Inc., Google Inc., Iac/Interactivecorp, Microsoft Corporation, the New York Times Company, Tribune Company, Yahoo! Inc., in successfully supporting Craigslist’s assertion of an immunity defense under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to avoid liability for alleged violations of the Fair Housing Act based on classified posts made by Craigslist's users who were seeking roommates or offering housing.

In DIRECTV, Inc. v. Pepe, 431 F.3d 162 (3d Cir. 2007), and DIRECTV, Inc.  v. Seijas,  508 F.3d 123 (3d Cir. 2007),  Sonnenschein convinced the Third Circuit to firmly establish that both the Federal Communications Act, 47 U.S.C. § 605, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 U.S.C. § 2511, provide a private right of action for the unlawful interception of encrypted satellite transmissions, and that DIRECTV can pursue an action based on either or both claims against satellite pirates.  

In Davidson & Associates v. Jung, 422 F.3d 630 (8th Cir. 2005), better known as the “bnetd” case,  Sonnenschein helped Blizzard uphold a grant of summary judgment against rogue programmers who had created alternate game servers that allowed users to play multiplayer online games without accessing Blizzard’s servers and in violation of the terms of Blizzard’s end-user license agreement.  In upholding summary judgment, the court gave a resounding victory to Blizzard, ruling that (1) Blizzard's software end-user license and terms of usage agreements were enforceable contracts; (2) Appellants waived any “fair use” defense; (3) the agreements did not constitute misuse of copyright; and (4) Appellants violated the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

In DIRECTV, Inc. v. Nicholas, 403 F.3d 223 (4th Cir. 2005), Sonnenschein helped DIRECTV convince the Fourth Circuit to reverse a district court judgment precluding DIRECTV from bringing an action based on the interception of  encrypted satellite transmissions.  Similarly, in DIRECTV, Inc. v. Budden, 420 F.3d 521 (5th Cir. 2007),  Sonnenschein helped DIRECTV demonstrate that a provider of direct-to-home satellite services can bring an action under the Federal Communications Act because such a provider can be deemed a  “person aggrieved” for purposes of standing to bring a civil claim for piracy of satellite cable programming.