“Countless” user accounts of Atomic Wallet, the cryptocurrency exchange platform, were hacked June 3, resulting in the loss of more than $100 million in global crypto assets, alleged a negligence class action Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-01582) in U.S. District Court for Colorado in Denver. The company and founder-CEO Konstantin Gladych knew of existing “security vulnerabilities” since at least as early as 2022, “but failed to take necessary security measures or precautions to protect user data and funds,” it said.

Eileen Raposa's and Michael Raffo's consolidated class actions asserting claims over connected vehicle services that went dead after AT&T discontinued its 3G wireless services in February 2022 (see 2303030039) “suffer from various flaws that require dismissal,” said a Volkswagen Group of America (VWGoA) memorandum June 16 (docket 2:22-cv-06230) in U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Newark in support of its motion to dismiss. VWGoA simultaneously filed a motion to compel the Raposa and Raffo disputes to arbitration that, if granted, would render the motion to dismiss moot, it said.

An upcoming Supreme Court decision in Biden v. Nebraska, which concerns the White House’s student loan forgiveness program, could clarify to what degree the court’s major questions doctrine (see 2302080064) could be used to challenge the actions of federal agencies such as the FCC, said HWG's Chris Wright and FCC Deputy General Counsel Jacob Lewis Thursday on a virtual FCBA panel.

Gannett sued Google Tuesday for antitrust violations involving its digital advertising technology, said a complaint (docket 1:23-cv-05177) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan. The lawsuit alleges Google manipulates “real-time bidding,” monopolizes publisher ad serving, “abuses” the Google DoubleClick for Publishers (DFP) ad platform to monopolize the market for ad exchanges, manipulates DFP to “artificially deflate bids from rival exchanges” and eliminates price floors while imposing unified pricing rules.

FTC and Microsoft attorneys, in opening statements of Thursday’s evidentiary hearing on the commission’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard buy, spent considerable time debating the fate of Activision’s signature Call of Duty franchise on Microsoft’s rival Sony PlayStation platform if the transaction goes through. The hearing is scheduled to continue over portions of the next four days (see 230615000).

California’s shift to connections-based USF contribution is no shining example of cooperative federalism, T-Mobile told the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “It is an unlawful attempt by the CPUC to override the FCC’s policy determination regarding the type of surcharge mechanism that best advances universal service.” Also, in a reply brief Tuesday (case 23-15490), the carrier disagreed with the California Public Utilities Commission that stopping the CPUC order would disrupt nearly every state's USF rules.

Amazon for years “has knowingly duped” millions of consumers into “unknowingly enrolling” in Amazon Prime, in violation of the FTC Act and the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act (ROSCA), alleged the FTC in a partially redacted fraud complaint Wednesday (docket 2:23-cv-00932) in U.S. District Court for Western Washington in Seattle.

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.

Amazon Marketplace seller AuKing Direct is “purposefully and deceptively inflating the brightness specification of its projectors,” alleges competitor Epson in a Tuesday fraud complaint (docket 1:23-cv-11367) in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts in Boston.

The FTC’s sole claim against Stratics Networks is barred under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act because Stratics’ ringless voicemail (RVM) platform and session initiation protocol termination service are interactive computer services under that statute, said Stratics’ memorandum of points and authorities Tuesday (docket 3:23-cv-00313) in U.S. District Court for Southern California in San Diego in support of its motion to dismiss the FTC’s Feb. 16 complaint. The government improperly seeks to hold Stratics liable as the publisher or speaker of content provided solely by others, it said.