Section 1201(a) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act “grants the power to a component of Congress,” the librarian of Congress, “to decide who may access works of authorship,” said Benjamin Margo of Wilson Sonsini in oral argument Monday (docket 23-5159) before the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit. He was arguing on behalf of the three plaintiff-appellants challenging Section 1201's constitutionality on First Amendment grounds (see 2311300055).

Montana’s attempt to ban TikTok “is part of a long line of recent efforts by state governments to impose crippling restrictions on businesses that operate over the internet,” said NetChoice’s amicus brief Monday (docket 24-34) in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the plaintiff-appellees -- five individual TikTok users challenging the ban, plus TikTok itself.

Lingo Telecom, as a simple phone company, doesn’t belong as a defendant in the lawsuit that alleges political consultant Steve Kramer hired robocall broadcaster Life Corp. to send thousands of robocalls two days before the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary to people they thought were likely Democratic voters, said Lingo’s motion Monday (docket 1:24-cv-00073) in U.S. District Court for New Hampshire in Concord to dismiss the March 14 complaint.

The “hidden spy pixel trackers” that Target embeds in its marketing emails to customers violate Arizona’s Telephone, Utility and Communication Service Records Act, alleged a class action Tuesday (docket 2:24-cv-01048) in U.S. District Court for Arizona.

With the federal ban on TikTok, Congress has taken the "unprecedented" step of enacting a law that “bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide,” TikTok and ByteDance said Tuesday in their petition for review (docket 24-1113) in the U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit to invalidate the ban.

Amazon and Epson sued two dozen entities and 10 John Does for selling counterfeit Epson products on Amazon from January 2023-February 2024, said a trademark infringement lawsuit Monday (docket 2:24-cv-00616) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle.

Lowe’s embedded spy tracking pixels in marketing emails to Arizona residents to monitor the behavior of those who subscribed to its email list, alleged a privacy class action (docket 2:24-cv-01030) against the home improvement retailer and Salesforce Sunday in U.S. District Court for Arizona.

Here are Communications Litigation Today's top stories from last week, in case you missed them. Each can be found by searching on its title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.

The Universal Service Administrative Co's. (USAC) role in administering the FCC's Universal Service Fund programs "is purely administrative," the FCC told the U.S. Supreme Court in response to Consumers' Research's challenge of how the commission determines quarterly contribution factors (see 2401100044). USAC "must comply with detailed regulations issued by the FCC" and "helps the FCC compute the amount of each quarterly payment" carriers must contribute, the agency said in an opposition brief filed in docket 23-456.

Adell Broadcasting will bring legal action against Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting if Mission doesn’t accept the FCC’s conditions for approving Mission’s proposed $75 million buy of Adell’s WADL Mount Clemens, Michigan (see 2404240070), Adell CEO Kevin Adell told us in an interview Tuesday.