The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering X’s appeal against California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) for an upcoming oral argument calendar in San Francisco in July or August, said a text-only docket notice Friday (docket 24-271). X is seeking to reverse the district court's Dec. 28 denial of its motion for a preliminary injunction to block Bonta from enforcing AB-587, the state's social media transparency law (see 2401160031). X seeks to block AB-587's enforcement on grounds that it violates the First Amendment and that federal law preempts it.
The Commerce Department finalized another new exemption for off-grid panels from antidumping and countervailing duties on crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules, from China (A-570-979/C-570-980), it said in the final results of a changed circumstances review released March 19. Commerce confirmed its preliminary finding that “substantially all” U.S. producers of solar cells, including original petitioner American Alliance for Solar Manufacturing, don't oppose Source Global's request to create the exemption.
A social media vlogger with a career-related YouTube channel is suing an individual for fraudulently creating a domain name under his name and posting intimate photos of him for public viewing, said the vlogger's complaint Friday (docket 5:24-cv-01621) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose. Plaintiff Cory Liguore, of Pleasanton, California, previously owned and used an account on the video chat and dating app, Fuzz, on which he would “only stream to public audiences or to private individuals by invitation only,” said the complaint. Liguore also owned and used an educational YouTube channel under his name, it said. Liguore alleges defendant Kendall Simmons, “primary decision-maker” for 7+6 Management,” is responsible for “the use and public dissemination of” Liguore’s name, likeness, intimate photos from Liguore’s Fuzz account, and personal information from Liguore’s LinkedIn account and YouTube channel -- without the plaintiff’s notice or consent – to create websites on which Simmons “impersonates” Liguore and posts intimate photos of him “for any person in the public to view.” The defendants are responsible for using “coryliguore.com” as the domain name on which the fraudulent activities occurred, the complaint said. Liguore was dismissed by his employer on Nov. 13 under his employer’s belief Liguore had posted intimate photos of himself, the complaint said. The day Liguore was fired was the first day he became aware of any use of his name, intimate photos, or personal information on any website created by the defendants, it said. Liguore has suffered “severe emotional and physical stress” as a result of the discovery and publication of the website, which has violated his privacy, and from the loss of his job, it said. On Nov. 18, after filing a police report, Liguore filed a request with Google to remove the domain name and website from search results relating to his name, “because it was using his name and information without his knowledge or consent"; Google complied, said the complaint. The Pleasanton Police Dept. convinced Wix.com, the domain registrar, to take the website down and cease domain services for coryliguore.com, it said. Wix.com also identified the owner and creator of coryliguore.com as Kendall Simmons from Villa Park, Illinois, it said. Liguore asserts claims of cyberpiracy protection for individuals, cyber piracy, civil harassment, disorderly conduct and cyber exploitation, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, and unfair competition. He requests preliminary and permanent injunctions, a transfer of the domain to himself, an award of statutory and other monetary compensation, plus attorneys’ fees and costs.
Sens. John Kennedy, R-La., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Katie Britt, R-Ala., claimed victory after the Commerce Department announced it isn't reducing antidumping duties on Vietnamese catfish from $2.39/kg to $0.14/kg (see 2403130061). They and other Southern Republicans had decried the preliminary decision earlier this year (see 2401220029). They said that reduction in duties ignored more than 20 years of precedent in the case, and would "also set a troubling precedent for the approximately 250 [non-market economy] proceedings involving communist governments before the Commerce Department."
Despite a lower court’s ruling that NetChoice was likely to succeed on its First Amendment challenge to California’s Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, AB-2273, the plaintiff’s arguments are “unpersuasive” and a “misreading of the Act,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s (D) reply brief Thursday (docket 23-2969) in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Bonta's appeal seeks to reverse the preliminary injunction that bars him from enforcing AB-2273 (see 2402080003).
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss for the District of Columbia granted Meta’s consent motion for a stay, through the close of business March 22, the deadline for Meta to respond to the FTC’s May 3 order to show cause why the commission shouldn’t modify its 2020 privacy consent order and enter the new restrictions on Meta’s business activities, said the judge’s signed order (docket 1:23-cv-03562).
The Commerce Department issued its final determination in the antidumping duty investigation on paper shopping bags from Turkey (A-489-849). Cash deposit rates set in this final determination take effect March 18, the date the final determination was published in the Federal Register.
The European Parliament last week gave its initial approval for a new set of rules that could “overhaul” the bloc’s customs system, including by creating a single Customs Data Hub that will allow traders to submit all customs information on imports (see 2305170031). Parliament -- which adopted the “first reading position” for the rules 486-19, with 97 abstentions -- will continue discussing the changes after the upcoming parliamentary elections in June.
Petitioners contested in comments March 13 a third remand redetermination in which the Commerce Department reluctantly ruled that a German government subsidy was not specific to a German exporter of forged steel fluid end block. Commerce failed to conduct a de facto specificity analysis, they argued (BGH Edelstahl Siegen GmbH v. U.S., CIT # 21-00080).
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices March 15 on AD/CVD proceedings: