CaféPress Denied 230 Motion to Dismiss–Curran v. Amazon
By Eric Goldman Curran v. Amazon.com, Inc., 2008 WL 472433 (S.D. W.Va. Feb. 19, 2008) Erik Curran was a National Guard soldier who served in “a combat zone.” For reasons unclear from this opinion, he was photographed by an unspecified…
Eric Menhart Backs Off CyberLaw Trademark Claim
By Eric Goldman You may recall that last month we all had a good laugh over self-proclaimed Cyberlawyer Eric Menhart’s trademark application for the term “CyberLaw” to describe his Cyberlaw practice. (In case it wasn’t clear, we weren’t laughing WITH…
McKenna on Trademark Use in Commerce
By Eric Goldman As you know, a big issue in online trademark law is the meaning and import of a “trademark use in commerce” requirement. To win its case, a trademark plaintiff must show that the defendant made a use…
No Liability for Providing User-Selected Category Tags–Whitney v. Xcentric
By Eric Goldman Whitney Information Network v. Xcentric Ventures, No. 2:04-cv-47-FtM-34SPC (M.D. Fla. Feb. 15, 2008) On remand from the 11th Circuit, the district court once again found that 47 USC 230 protects Rip-off Report and related entities from a…
Turnitin Lawsuit to Be Dismissed–AV v. iParadigms
By Eric Goldman A.V. v. iParadigms, LLC, No. 07-0293 (E.D. Va. removal from trial docket Jan. 9, 2008) iParadigms, the operators of the Turnitin plagiarism detection tool, issued a confusing press release earlier this week announcing that the lawsuit against…
Classic Article on “Cybermediaries”
By Eric Goldman Mitra B. Sarkar et al., Intermediaries and Cybermediaries: A Continuing Role for Mediating Players in the Electronic Marketplace, J. COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATIONS, 1995 I’ve been working on my Brand Spillovers paper, which in part addresses the trademark…
Jan. 2008 Quick Links (IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman Trademarks and Domain Names * Adidas America, Inc. v. Payless Shoesource, Inc., 2007 WL 4482201 (D. Oregon Dec. 21, 2007). This case (1) discusses whether advice of counsel is a defense against willfulness in the trademark context,…
Jan. 2008 Quick Links (Non-IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman 47 USC 230 * Doe v. SexSearch, the case absolving a website for age verification of its users, has been appealed. * The Supreme Court denied cert in Parker v. Google. See 2008 WL 114262. * NYT…
1-800 SKI VAIL Doesn’t Infringe–Vail Associates v. Vend-Tel-Co
By Eric Goldman Vail Associates, Inc. v. Vend-Tel-Co., Ltd., 2008 WL 342272 (10th Cir. Feb. 7, 2008) This case nicely illustrates that a vanity 800 number containing a third party trademark doesn’t create a likelihood of consumer confusion. To the…
Third Circuit Says Google Isn’t State Actor–Jayne v. Google Founders
By Eric Goldman Jayne v. Google Internet Search Engine Founders, No. 07-4083 (3rd Cir. Feb. 7, 2008) You may recall Jayne v. Google Founders, one of several wacky pro se lawsuits filed against Google last summer. When I first saw…