louisa ledesma
Disney sues Florida governor Ron DeSantis
In the latest legal developments between Disney and FL governor Ron DeSantis, Disney has filed a lawsuit against DeSantis, the DeSantis-appointed board, and Florida Department of Economic Opportunity acting secretary Meredith Ivey. Disney seeks an injunction against the board’s move to nullify the agreement Disney reached with the previous board before it was dissolved that […]
“AI rights”? US Supreme Court won’t hear case arguing for patents to be issued to inventions made by AI
The plaintiff Stephen Thaler sought to have patents issued for inventions made by his Device for the Autonomous Bootstrapping of Unified Sentience (DABUS) system but his applications to the US Patent and Trademark Office and the US Court of Appeals were rejected because US patent law allows for patents to be issued solely to human […]
A man is suing Netflix for over $1M after his Instagram photo is used in a true crime documentary
Taylor Hazlewood is suing Netflix for defamation and misappropriation of likeness or right of publicity after his Instagram photo was used in The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker, a Netflix documentary about convicted murderer Caleb “Kai” McGillvary. Hazlewood only found out that his photo was used when friends messaged him, asking why he was on Netflix. Article […]
Canadian couple lost almost $10K in deepfake phone scam
Here’s an article that came up on my homepage about a couple in St. John’s, NL who lost $9800 after they received a phone call from someone claiming to be their son. The couple was convinced that the voice on the phone was their son’s and that he was in police custody. Phone scams using […]
DeSantis vs Disney and the Rule Against Perpetuities
Please see this NPR article for background and the latest news on the power struggles between Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Disney. The Internet and the media are going wild over the Disney lawyers’ use of the rule against perpetuities that essentially makes the new DeSantis-controlled board powerless. The agreements that Disney signed with the […]
Love Island UK Season 8 winner Ekin-Su and former contestant Paige are each suing the fashion brands they signed with soon after leaving the villa last summer, alleging breach of contract
Ekin-Su signed a £1M deal with Oh Polly and released a collection with them last October. Not even six months later, Oh Polly ended the partnership. Now Ekin-Su is Ekin-suing. Paige is also suing the brand that she partnered with post-villa, Forever Unique, after signing a six-figure deal with them. Both cases appear to be […]
Levi’s to use AI fashion models in the name of ‘diversity’
Levi’s will work with Amsterdam-based digital model studio Lalaland.ai to create AI models for the company’s clothes with the goal of “increasing the number and diversity of our models for our products in a sustainable way.” The author of the article criticizes this partnership as a corporation preferring to create models rather than actually hiring humans […]
Update on Mikayla Lashgate: Admitting to using false lashes?
While she’ll probably never admit to whether she used falsies in that ad, Mikayla’s huge platform and fanbase mean she’s relatively shielded from any real consequences for misleading advertising. Ironic that her advertising may be as false as her lashes, yet she gets to make a joke out of the controversy and fans love her […]
Netflix settles the lawsuit it filed against Barlow & Bear for their ‘Unofficial Bridgerton Musical’
I was curious about the developments regarding the lawsuit Netflix filed against musical duo Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear last summer. When I looked it up, turns out Netflix had settled the suit by September 2022. Barlow & Bear went viral on Tik Tok in 2021 for their fan-made songs based on the hit Netflix […]
Slides for “Truth in Advertising in Age of Social Media Influencers” Presentation (Feb 14)
Here is the link to our slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1pPFPrFj2pwxir7I5EPv3ti9KpXspyobL8ASTTKrEDF8/edit?usp=sharing Thank you for listening and for the engaging discussion/participation! Hope everyone has a safe and relaxing reading break.
Truth in Advertising in the Age of Social Media Influencers
Happy February, everyone! For our presentation next week on February 14th (Louisa, Sigrid, Jade), please read this Times article on “Lash-gate” the latest scandal in the online beauty world that involves Mikayla Nogueira, a beauty influencer who gained popularity primarily on TikTok. Our presentation will focus on influencer marketing and advertising on social media and […]