Susan Illston

Last updated

Illston in 2011 was the presiding judge in Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC v. George Hotz, et al., [16] in which Sony claimed that Hotz's jailbreaking of the Sony PlayStation 3 violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. [17] She granted Sony permission to track as much information as possible about those who had seen a private YouTube video about the jailbreak and to read their comments, plus obtain access to IP addresses, accounts, and other details of visitors to sites run by Geohot. The access granted by Illston extended even to those who had not downloaded the jailbreak code. [18]

In Re: National Security Letters

In a March 15, 2013, ruling Judge Illston granted petitioner's motion to set aside a National Security Letter (NSL), ruling that the NSL's nondisclosure and judicial review provisions suffer from significant Constitutional infirmities. [19] The petitioner argued that the nondisclosure provision of statute 18 U.S.C. § 2709(c) was an unconstitutional prior restraint and content-based restriction on speech. [20] The decision came in a lawsuit challenging a NSL on behalf of an unnamed telecommunications company represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). [21] The judge stayed her decision for 90 days to give the government the opportunity to appeal. [22] [23]

Pirani v. Slack Technologies, Inc.

in April 2020, Illston issued an order—ultimately overturned by the US Supreme Court—denying Slack Technologies’ motion to dismiss a securities class action complaint against it following a direct listing by the company. [24] The judge held that the plaintiff did not lack standing to pursue claims under Section 11 of the Securities Act where the purchased shares were not traceable to the allegedly misleading registration statement, in the unique situation of a direct listing in which shares registered under the Securities Act become publicly tradeable on the same day that unregistered shares become publicly tradeable, even though the plaintiff could not show that the shares the plaintiff acquired were registered. [25] Illiston certified her ruling for interlocutory appeal, and the Ninth Circuit - with a divided panel - affirmed. [26] Dissenting, Judge Eric D. Miller argued that Sections 11 and 12 require a plaintiff to prove that he purchased securities registered under a materially misleading registration statement, something Pirani had not done, and cited a long line of lower court decisions that interpreted Section 11 as applying only to shares purchased pursuant to a registration statement. [26]

The United States Supreme Court ultimately reviewed the case. It noted in its unanimous June 2023 decision that lower federal courts had held since the 1960s that liability under Section 11 of the Securities Act of 1933 attaches "only when a buyer can trace the shares he has purchased to a false or misleading registration statement." [26] It held that "because we think the better reading of the particular provision before us requires a plaintiff to plead and prove that he purchased shares traceable to the allegedly defective registration statement, we vacate the Ninth Circuit’s judgment holding otherwise." [26]

Anoke v. X Holdings Corp.

On 20 August 2024, Illston granted a motion to unseal a list of shareholders of X Holdings Corp. (which owns Twitter since the acquisition by Elon Musk). The unsealed document was published to the court's website. [27]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Securities Act of 1933</span> US federal law regulating securities

The Securities Act of 1933, also known as the 1933 Act, the Securities Act, the Truth in Securities Act, the Federal Securities Act, and the '33 Act, was enacted by the United States Congress on May 27, 1933, during the Great Depression and after the stock market crash of 1929. It is an integral part of United States securities regulation. It is legislated pursuant to the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

American Civil Liberties Union v. Ashcroft is a lawsuit filed on behalf of a formerly unknown Internet Service Provider (ISP) company under the pseudonym John Doe, Inc. by the American Civil Liberties Union against the U.S. federal government, by the Department of Justice under former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Off-roading</span> Activity of driving on unsurfaced roads or tracks

Off-roading is the act of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, dirt, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, or other natural terrain. Off-roading ranges from casual drives with regular vehicles to competitive events with customized vehicles and skilled drivers.

Amount in controversy is a term used in civil procedure to denote the amount at stake in a lawsuit, in particular in connection with a requirement that persons seeking to bring a lawsuit in a particular court must be suing for a certain minimum amount before that court may hear the case.

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Pub. L. 104–67 (text)(PDF), 109 Stat. 737 ("PSLRA") implemented several substantive changes in the United States that have affected certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation, and awards fees and expenses.

<i>American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency</i>

American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency, 493 F.3d 644, is a case decided July 6, 2007, in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the plaintiffs in the case did not have standing to bring the suit against the National Security Agency (NSA), because they could not present evidence that they were the targets of the so-called "Terrorist Surveillance Program" (TSP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National security letter</span> US government administrative subpoena

A national security letter (NSL) is an administrative subpoena issued by the United States government to gather information for national security purposes. NSLs do not require prior approval from a judge. The Stored Communications Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, and Right to Financial Privacy Act authorize the United States government to seek such information that is "relevant" to an authorized national security investigation. By law, NSLs can request only non-content information, for example, transactional records and phone numbers dialed, but never the content of telephone calls or e-mails.

OtherOS is a feature of early versions of the PlayStation 3 video game console, allowing user installed software, such as Linux or FreeBSD. The feature was removed since system firmware update 3.21, released on April 1, 2010.

Bowoto v. Chevron Corp. was a lawsuit against Chevron Nigeria Ltd., a subsidiary of Chevron USA, which went to trial in 2008 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs, Nigerian citizens who had been injured during or who had survived human rights violations perpetrated by Nigerian military personnel, alleged that the Chevron subsidiary backed the military action and that the parent company thus should bear liability in US courts for the resultant fallout. The suit was decided on December 1, 2008, when nine jurors unanimously agreed Chevron was not liable for any of the numerous allegations. Judgment was entered the next day, officially exonerating Chevron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Hotz</span> American software engineer

George Francis Hotz, alias geohot, is an American security hacker, entrepreneur, and software engineer. He is known for developing iOS jailbreaks, reverse engineering the PlayStation 3, and for the subsequent lawsuit brought against him by Sony. From September 2015 onwards, he has been working on his vehicle automation machine learning company comma.ai. Since November 2022, Hotz has been working on tinygrad, a deep learning framework.

Rasor Off-Highway Vehicle Area is a remote public use area for the off-highway vehicle user located in the Mojave Desert about 50 miles (80 km) east of Barstow, California, administered by the Bureau of Land Management.

The California Desert Protection Act of 2010 was legislation proposed by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. The stated aim of the legislation was "to provide for conservation, enhanced recreation opportunities, and development of renewable energy in the California Desert Conservation Area."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PlayStation 3 Jailbreak</span>

PlayStation 3 Jailbreak was the first USB chipset that allowed unauthorized execution of code, similar to homebrew, on the PlayStation 3. It works by bypassing a system security check using a memory exploit which occurs with USB devices that allows the execution of unsigned code.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slack Technologies</span> Software company in Canada

Slack Technologies, LLC is an American software company founded in 2009 in Vancouver, British Columbia, known for its proprietary communication platform Slack. Outside its headquarters in San Francisco, California, Slack also operates offices in New York City, Denver, Toronto, London, Paris, Tokyo, Dublin, Vancouver, Pune, and Melbourne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Merrill</span> Free speech and privacy advocate

Nicholas Merrill is an American system administrator, computer programmer, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Calyx Internet Access, an Internet and hosted service provider founded in 1995, and of the non-profit Calyx Institute. He was the first person to file a constitutional challenge against the National Security Letters statute in the USA PATRIOT Act and consequently the first person to have a National Security Letter gag order completely lifted.

Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton is an American multinational law firm headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm has twenty-two offices, including U.S. offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Washington State, and the District of Columbia, and has presence via international offices in Japan, Beijing, Shanghai, and Sweden. The firm is particularly known for its intellectual property practice. Clients have included Google in litigation related to its Google Print product, and Sony in its suit against 21-year-old hacker George Hotz for jailbreaking the PS3.

<i>Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc. v. Hotz</i> Lawsuit between Sony Entertainment and hackers geohot and fail0verflow

SCEA v. Hotz was a lawsuit in the United States by Sony Computer Entertainment of America against George Hotz and associates of the group fail0verflow. It was in regards to jailbreaking and reverse engineering the PlayStation 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Abrams</span> American judge (born 1968)

Ronnie Abrams is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.

<i>Conant v. Walters</i> 2002 Court of Appeals case

Conant v. Walters, 309 F.3d 629, is a legal case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which affirmed the right of physicians to recommend medical marijuana. The Court of Appeals affirmed the earlier decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, which was filed under the caption Conant v. McCaffrey. Though the case involved chronic patients with untreatable diseases, the decision does not name these conditions as a prerequisite, nor does it limit drugs which may or may not be illegal.

A securities class action (SCA), or securities fraud class action, is a lawsuit filed by investors who bought or sold a company's publicly traded securities within a specific period of time and suffered economic injury as a result of violations of the securities laws.

References

  1. ↑ "Honorable Susan Illston" (PDF). American Bar Association. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
  2. ↑ http://www.abanet.org/antitrust/at-bios/illston-susan.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  3. ↑ "Judgepedia Susan Illston". Judgepedia. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. Retrieved February 25, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Presidential Nominations - THOMAS (Library of Congress)".[ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ CIRCUIT, UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH (January 1, 1999). "196 F3d 958 Edward Diloreto v. Downey Unified School District Board of Education". F3d (196): 958.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ↑ Judge: DVD-copying software is illegal Cnet, accessed 24 AUG 2008
  7. ↑ Man who concocted 'the clear' gets 3 months in prison - Associated Press, 8/4/06
  8. ↑ Thomas, Katie (February 27, 2009). "Judge in Bonds Case Has Reputation as Quick Study". The New York Times. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
  9. ↑ Egelko, Bob (April 9, 2009). "Students disciplined for praying can sue". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
  10. 1 2 "Off-road Routes in Mojave Desert Found Illegal". Archived from the original on April 15, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2009.
  11. 1 2 "Judge rejects U.S. plan for road building in 4 forests". September 30, 2009.
  12. ↑ Sahagun, Louis (September 30, 2009). "Judge rejects U.S. management plan for California desert" – via LA Times.
  13. ↑ "Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision for the Approved Land Use Plan Amendment to the California Desert Conservation Area Plan for the West Mojave Route Network Project, California". October 4, 2019 – via Federal Register.
  14. ↑ "Complaint for Declaratory Judgement and Injunctive Relief" (PDF). September 19, 2021 – via Center for Biological Diversity.
  15. ↑ "Order Re: Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment and Setting Case Management Conference" (PDF). October 15, 2024 – via Center for Biological Diversity.
  16. ↑ Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC v. George Hotz, et al., No. C-11-00167 SI (N.D. Cal. filed Jan. 11, 2011)
  17. ↑ David, Kravets (February 7, 2011). "Sony Lawyers Expand Dragnet, Targeting Anybody Posting PlayStation 3 Hack". Wired. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
  18. ↑ "Judge in PS3 case lets Sony track visitors to Geohot website". electronista. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  19. ↑ NSL Order Scribd, accessed 1 SEP 2013
  20. ↑ "18 U.S. Code § 2709 - Counterintelligence access to telephone toll and transactional records". LII / Legal Information Institute.
  21. ↑ Court Finds NSL Statutes Violate First Amendment and Separation of Powers EFF, accessed September 1, 2013
  22. ↑ "In re: National Security Letter 2011 (11-2173)". July 11, 2012.
  23. ↑ "Gagging recipients of National Security Letters found unconstitutional". March 15, 2013.
  24. ↑ Kirsten Errick (April 24, 2020). "Slack Direct Listing Lawsuit Partially Dismissed - Tech". Law Street.
  25. ↑ Kevin Askew, Niki Fang, Bill Hughes, James Kramer, Alex Talarides (April 28, 2020). "In Slack Direct Listing Case, California Federal District Court Holds That Section 11 Plaintiff Has Standing to Sue Notwithstanding Impossibility of Tracing Shares to Registration Statement". JD Supra.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. 1 2 3 4 Slack v. Prani, Supreme Court of the United States (2023).
  27. ↑ Thadani, Trisha (August 23, 2024). "Elon Musk's X reveals investors in court filing". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved August 26, 2024.
Susan Yvonne Illston
Susan Y. Illston.JPG
Illston in 2014
Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
Incumbent
Assumed office
July 1, 2013
Legal offices
Preceded byJudge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California
1995–2013		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.