Hotels Benefit When Distributors Reference the Hotel’s Trademark in Keyword Ad Copy
By Eric Goldman Lesley Chiou of Occidental College and Catherine Tucker of MIT have posted an empirical study, How Does the Use of Trademarks by Third-Party Sellers Affect Online Search? The study tries to model what happens when distributors use…
Ninth Circuit’s Mixed Opinion in Glider/WoW Bot Case — MDY Industries v. Blizzard
[Post by Venkat, with comments from Eric] MDY Industries, LLC v. Blizzard Entertainment, Nos. 09-15932 & 16044 (9th Cir. Dec. 14, 2010) The Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in the Blizzard Glider “bot” case, which is one of three cases…
Domain Name Privacy Protection Services Not Liable for Failure to Disclose Identity of Alleged Spammer — Balsam v. Tucows
[Post by Venkat] Balsam v. Tucows, No. 09-17625 (9th Cir.; Dec. 16, 2010) Prolific spam litigant Dan Balsam sued the registrant of [adultactioncam.com] under California’s spam statute for allegedly sending Balsam thousands of pieces of spam. Balsam obtained a default…
Supreme Indecision: Costco v. Omega Gums up the (Watch)Works
By Ethan Ackerman In coming to a 4-4 procedural tie that defaults to upholding the ruling below, the Supreme Court let stand a 9th Circuit opinion territorially limiting the first sale defense’s applicability to domestically made goods. While still not…
Starbucks Data Breach Plaintiffs Rebuffed by Ninth Circuit — Krottner v. Starbucks
[Post by Venkat] Krottner v. Starbucks, Nos. 09-35823 and 35824 (9th Cir.; Dec. 14, 2010) (Memo affirming dismissal) (Opinion re Standing) Starbucks employees sued Starbucks due to a data breach resulting from the theft of a laptop computer which contained…
Viacom, FAPL and Amici File Briefs in Viacom v. YouTube Second Circuit Appeal
By Eric Goldman [note: all of the briefs referenced in this post are linked in the case library at the bottom of the post] Viacom and the FAPL have filed their opening appellate briefs in the Second Circuit appeal of…
Court Finds Juvenile Delinquent Based on Allegedly Offensive Instant Messages — In re Alex C.
[Post by Venkat with additional comments by Eric] In re Alex C., No. 2009-399 (N.H. Supreme Court; Nov. 30, 2010) Rachel K.’s daughter ran away from home. In an effort to locate her, Rachel logged on to her daughter’s AOL…
Court Unlocks Allegedly Infringing Domain Name Based on Ineffectual Email Service — Station Casinos, Inc. v. Murphy
[Post by Venkat] Station Casinos, Inc. v. Murphy, 2:10-cv-01770-GMN-LRL (D.Nev.; Nov. 18, 2010) [pdf] Plaintiff, who operates a family of Station-branded casino hotels and owns the “STATION CASINOS” mark, brought suit against Ryan Murphy, alleging that a website accessible via…
SEO/Web Design Consultant Faces Contributory Trademark Liability for “Copycat” E-Commerce Site–Roger Cleveland Golf v. Price
By Eric Goldman Roger Cleveland Golf Co. v. Price, 2010 WL 5019260 (D. S.C. Dec. 3, 2010). [Note: the case captioning is probably wrong. Apparently, it should have been Roger Cleveland Golf Co. v. Prince] Online contributory trademark infringement liability…
Get Ready for a Rush of Facebooking Activity by Judges in Ohio
[Post by Venkat] Ohio Supreme Court (Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline): Opinion 2010-7 (Dec. 3, 2010) I posted previously about Florida’s restrictive attitude toward Facebook friending by judges: “Is the Florida Bar Taking Facebook Friendship Too Seriously?” The…