Susan Illston

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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

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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
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