Litigating the Meaning of Emojis: Admitting and Using Emoji Evidence to Support Claims or Defenses
A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A
This CLE webinar will offer guidance about how to handle emojis, emoticons, GIFs, memes, and other "picture" communications in litigation, including obtaining and authenticating them, demonstrating intent, and navigating hearsay, among many other substantive and evidentiary challenges. The panel will review how the way emojis are interpreted can support or undermine a case.
Outline
- Defining emojis, emoticons, GIFs, memes, and other "picture" communications
- Discovery and authentication
- Interpreting emojis
- Computer platform issues
- Evolving and new emojis
- Emoji dictionaries
- Emoji experts
- Subjective vs. objective meaning
- Roles of judge and jury
- Illustrative cases across practice areas
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key questions:
- How can someone search emails or texts for emojis?
- Who or what decides standard definitions for emojis?
- What are the hearsay issues with emojis?
- Do emojis represent emotions or actions with legal consequences?
Faculty

Professor Eric Goldman
Associate Dean of Research, Professor of Law and Co-Director, High Tech Law Institute
Santa Clara University School of Law
Prof. Goldman co-directs Santa Clara University School of Law’s High Tech Law Institute and supervises the... | Read More
Prof. Goldman co-directs Santa Clara University School of Law’s High Tech Law Institute and supervises the school’s Privacy Law Certificate. Before joining the SCU faculty in 2006, he was an Assistant Professor at Marquette University Law School, General Counsel of Epinions.com, and an Internet transactional attorney at Cooley Godward LLP. Prof. Goldman teaches and publishes in the areas of internet law, intellectual property and advertising and marketing Law. He blogs on these topics at the Technology & Marketing Law Blog, which has been inducted into the ABA Journal’s “Blawg Hall of Fame.”
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Michael J. Slocum
Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig
Mr. Slocum focuses his practice on labor and employment law, including the defense of discrimination, retaliation,... | Read More
Mr. Slocum focuses his practice on labor and employment law, including the defense of discrimination, retaliation, wrongful discharge and whistleblower claims. He has represented employers in a broad array of industries, including healthcare and life sciences, pharmaceutical, private security, and retail, and has experience defending against both individual employee claims and class actions. Mr. Slocum has written and spoken numerous times on a multitude of issues facing employers in diverse industries.
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