Social media sites are transforming not only the daily lives of consumers, but also how companies interact with consumers. Here at Morrison Foerster, across all of our practice groups, we are seeing complex, cutting-edge legal issues arising out of social media. As with the Internet boom during the mid-to-late 1990s, social media is generating new legal questions at a far faster pace than the law’s ability to provide answers to such questions. In an effort to stay on top of these emerging issues, and to keep our clients and friends informed of new developments, Morrison Foerster publishes this blog devoted to the law and business of social media.<h2>ABOUT MORRISON FOERSTER</h2>Morrison Foerster is a leading global law firm that transforms complexity into advantage for its clients. Our clients include some of the largest financial institutions, banks, consulting and accounting firms, and Fortune 100, technology, and life sciences companies. Highlighting the firm’s commitment to client service, leadership in market-changing deals and impact litigation, and values-based culture, Morrison Foerster has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top 10 firms on The American Lawyer’s A-List. Year after year, the firm receives significant recognition from Chambers and The Legal 500 across their various guides, including Global, USA, Asia‑Pacific, Europe, UK, Latin America, and FinTech Legal. Our lawyers passionately care about delivering legal excellence while living our values. Morrison Foerster has a long-standing commitment to creating a culture that respects and celebrates differences, while providing an inclusive environment. The firm has achieved Mansfield Certification Plus since 2018 as a result of successfully reaching at least 30 percent women, communities of color, and LGBTQ+ lawyer representation in a notable number of current leadership roles and committees. The firm also has a long history of commitment to the community and society through providing pro bono legal services, including litigating for civil rights and civil liberties, improving public education and fostering the wellbeing of children, advocating for veterans, promoting international human rights, enforcing the right to asylum, and safeguarding the environment.

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Aaron is the chair of the firm’s Technology Transactions Group and co-chair of the Interactive + Digital Media Group. He advises clients on a wide range of complex transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including structuring and negotiating strategic licensing, development, collaboration, procurement, and distribution deals.Aaron’s practice focuses on advising both established and emerging companies in a variety of data- and technology-intensive sectors, including software, SaaS, cloud-based technology, digital media (social media, AR/VR, gaming, streaming media, AdTech), AI, healthcare, consumer electronics, e-commerce, other online business models, and mobile applications. He also maintains an active practice counseling companies on branding and marketing, trademark licensing, and content-related transactions, as well as the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, asset spin-offs, and private equity investments.He has represented clients such as Autodesk, Meta, OpenAI, Splunk, Konami, Kaiser Permanente, SoftBank, Visa, and Yahoo, among others.Aaron has been recognized by numerous publications for his work on market-defining technology transactions. He is currently ranked by Chambers USA for “Technology Transactions.”Aaron also serves as co-editor of Socially Aware, the firm’s award-winning newsletter and blog devoted to the law and business of social media, and regularly publishes on various IP and technology-related topics. Aaron is also a sought-after speaker on new and emerging areas of law, and is a frequent presenter and panelist at conferences and legal services programs. In addition to his active practice, Aaron regularly provides pro bono assistance to various nonprofit and charitable organizations such as Common Sense Media and the Starlight Children’s Foundation. He is a member of the board of directors of California Lawyers for the Arts.While in law school at the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, Aaron served as executive editor of the California Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Following law school, Aaron served as law clerk to the Honorable William H. Orrick and the Honorable Martin J. Jenkins, both United States District Judges for the Northern District of California.

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Aaron is the chair of our Technology Transactions Group. He advises clients on a wide range of complex transactions involving intellectual property and technology, including structuring and negotiating strategic licensing, development, collaboration, procurement, and distribution deals. Aaron’s practice focuses on advising both established and emerging companies in a variety of data– and technology–intensive sectors, including software, SaaS, cloud computing, AR/VR, AI, gaming, healthcare, consumer electronics, social media, e–commerce, other online business models, and mobile applications. He also maintains an active practice counseling companies on the intellectual property aspects of mergers, acquisitions, asset spin–offs, and private equity investments.

Aaron P. Rubin

Lawrence Gallick is of counsel in the firm’s Austin office and a member of the Technology Transactions Group.Lawrence focuses his practice on technology transactions and licensing matters. His diverse experience includes advising on SaaS agreements, cross-licensing agreements, research and collaboration agreements, development agreements, and distribution agreements. He counsels a broad range of companies across the software, hardware, life sciences, biotech and FinTech spaces, as well as other entities including universities.He advises clients in connection with general corporate matters including contract negotiations, and leasing and technology placement agreements.Lawrence also serves as co-editor of <a href="https://www.sociallyawareblog.com/" target="_blank">Socially Aware</a>, the firm’s award-winning newsletter and blog devoted to the law and business of social media, and regularly publishes on various IP and technology-related topics.Prior to joining the firm, Lawrence was counsel at another major law firm. Before earning his law degree, Lawrence was a web consultant, project manager, and web developer in Portland, Oregon, where he managed and consulted on projects using industry methodologies and performed custom development and integration of content management systems.Lawrence was named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in 2015 and 2018–2022, and is licensed in both California and New York. Lawrence earned his J.D. from the University at Buffalo School of Law, where he was the electronic systems editor for the Buffalo Law Review and awarded the ABA-BNA Award for Excellence in the Study of Intellectual Property Law.

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Lawrence Gallick

Anthony Ramirez is a partner in the Technology Transactions Group in the New York office of Morrison Foerster.Anthony advises clients on general commercial and transactional matters. He regularly advises companies on the IP aspects of their M&A transactions. His clients include technology, digital media and content for television and music, financial services, and communications companies with diverse intellectual property assets and issues.His practice focuses on the legal aspects of developing, licensing, and commercializing technology and intellectual property, as well as negotiating general commercial contracts, including outsourcing transactions, as well as content and data licenses. He regularly assists clients with legal issues relating to licensing and commercialization of digital media and content, digital content that is distributed over the Internet or streamed, mobile applications and social media, as well as the licensing of recorded music for distribution via digital platforms. Anthony is also experienced with issues relating to open-source software, software development, artificial intelligence and machine learning, cloud-based technology, and protection of proprietary information.Anthony has extensive experience working on matters involving disruptive technologies, such as blockchain. He has helped fintech clients with general intellectual property issues in connection with terms of service for online financial products and services.Anthony is an integral part of the outside pro bono legal team for nonprofit organizations based in New York, including advising clients on legal issues regarding entertainment, social media, privacy rights, and the negotiation of outsourcing and service agreements. Anthony received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 2009. He received his B.S. from Cornell University in 2004.

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Anthony Ramirez is a partner in the Technology Transactions Group in the New York office of Morrison Foerster. He advises clients on general commercial and transactional matters. His clients include technology, media, and communications companies with considerable intellectual property assets. His practice focuses on the legal aspects of licensing and commercializing technology and intellectual property, as well as negotiating general commercial contracts. He also regularly assists clients with legal issues relating to mobile applications and social media.

Anthony M. Ramirez

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Socially Aware is devoted to the law and business of social media, proactively addressing emerging issues and keeping our clients informed of new developments. We cover fields such as artificial intelligence, privacy and data security, Section 230, intellectual property, and much more.

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The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently secured a notable victory against Google in a dispute over the enforceability of a U.S. search warrant seeking acc

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Court Orders Google to Turn Over Foreign-Stored Data

Court Orders Google to Turn Over Foreign-Stored Data | Socially Aware

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently secured a notable victory against Google in a dispute over the enforceability of a U.S. search warrant seeking access to foreign-stored account data.The April 19 ruling—from Magistrate Judge Beeler in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California—is the latest sign that DOJ is continuing to rely on the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2703" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stored Communication Act</a> (SCA) to seek overseas account data even after the Department’s <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2016/10/25/email-outside-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">high profile defeat </a>in the Second Circuit’s <a href="http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca2/14-2985/14-2985-2017-01-24.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruling</a> in the Microsoft case.And the opinion suggests that DOJ’s litigation strategy may be working.The dispute arose after DOJ obtained a search warrant last year under the SCA directing Google to provide information related to specified Google user accounts. Google withheld some of the requested information and challenged the request. Google explained that it relies on algorithms to move user data around the world automatically to aid in network efficiency. Invoking the Second Circuit’s Microsoft ruling, which rejected DOJ’s efforts to obtain content stored on Microsoft servers in Ireland, Google argued that some of the requested data was stored exclusively overseas and therefore beyond the purview of an SCA warrant.In her <a href="https://dlbjbjzgnk95t.cloudfront.net/0915000/915244/https-ecf-cand-uscourts-gov-doc1-035115371508.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9-page opinion</a>, Judge Beeler declined to apply the reasoning of Microsoft and ordered Google to comply with the warrant “regardless of the data’s actual location.” Accepting that the SCA warrant provisions do not apply extraterritorially, the opinion concluded that the warrant at issue should be viewed as “a domestic application of the SCA” rather than an extraterritorial one.The opinion briefly noted a potential distinction between the Microsoft and Google cases—specifically, that Microsoft had been storing data in accordance with the user’s self-reported location in Ireland, whereas Google was moving data around the world based on efficiency-driven algorithms. Yet, the ruling appeared animated by the court’s decision to “follow[] as persuasive” the reasoning of the dissenters from the denial of rehearing en banc in the Microsoft case: Judge Beeler concluded that it does not matter where Google chooses to store the data as long as Google “is in the district and is subject to the court’s jurisdiction; [and] the warrant is directed to the only place where it can access and deliver the information that the government seeks.” Additionally, the opinion noted that “[o]ther courts [outside the Second Circuit] have reached similar conclusions after a similar analysis of the Microsoft decision.”U.S. companies have now received multiple warnings not to store user communications abroad if they hope to avoid U.S. law enforcement requests despite the Second Circuit’s Microsoft decision. U.S. courts remain willing to pierce the veil of global cloud storage practices in aid of a criminal investigation. The ruling suggests that DOJ will continue pressing arguments to distinguish (or otherwise reject) the Second Circuit’s Microsoft decision in future litigation. The development further compounds the legal complexity of cross-border data transfers, as U.S.-based cloud service providers may have a difficult time representing whether data based in the European Union would be exposed to U.S. government access.This decision also comes at a time of renewed public scrutiny of the SCA as a whole: a challenge by Microsoft to SCA warrant secrecy rules is currently working its way through the courts, and a pending bill in Congress could limit government access to communications older than 180 days without a warrant.Finally, the growing number of courts outside the Second Circuit that have broken with the ruling in Microsoft raises the chances that these issues may ultimately be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Solicitor General’s Office could still ask the Supreme Court to review the Second Circuit’s Microsoft decision, having sought and received an extension of the time to petition for certiorari in that case until May 24.In addition, companies with a stake in these issues should watch for further litigation from Google over this order, as well as a forthcoming ruling from Judge Juan Sanchez of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. On April 18, Judge Sanchez heard oral arguments regarding Google’s ongoing challenge to Magistrate Judge Thomas Rueter’s order compelling the company to comply with an SCA warrant in a case raising similar issues.*             *             *For other Socially Aware posts addressing the U.S. government’s efforts to obtain user data directly from social media networks and cloud storage providers, please see the following: <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2017/02/23/google-ordered-foreign-stored-user-data/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google Ordered to Comply with Warrant for Foreign-Stored User Data</a>; <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2016/10/25/email-outside-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Second Circuit: Email Stored Outside the U.S. Might Be Beyond Government’s Reach</a>; and <a href="http://www.sociallyawareblog.com/2012/07/23/weve-come-for-your-tweets-twitter-to-appeal-denial-of-its-motion-to-quash-district-attorneys-subpoena/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">We’ve Come for Your Tweets: Twitter to Appeal Denial of Its Motion To Quash District Attorney’s Subpoena</a>.