Reputation Management Lawsuit Is Shot Down–Bernard v. Donat
By Eric Goldman Bernard v. Donat, 2012 WL 525533 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 16, 2011). The Justia page. Donald Ray Bernard is an energy consultant, big game hunt tour operator, former lawyer and former law professor. His LinkedIn page. His Google…
Court Denies Kravitz’s Motion to Dismiss PhoneDog’s Amended Claims — PhoneDog v. Kravitz
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] PhoneDog v. Kravitz, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10561 (N.D. Cal.; Jan. 30, 2012) PhoneDog and Kravitz are fighting over ownership of the Twitter account Kravitz used while he was working for PhoneDog. In an earlier order,…
Google Gets Significant Win in AdWords/Parked Domains Case
By Eric Goldman In re Google AdWords Litigation, 2012 WL 28068 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2012) Google defeated class certification in an AdWords-related case over Google’s placement of ads on parked domains. This almost certainly ends this case in practice,…
Just How Egregiously Must a Trademark Plaintiff Act Before a Court Awards Attorneys’ Fees to the Defendant?–1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com
By Eric Goldman 1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com, 2012 WL 113812 (D. Utah Jan. 13, 2012). Prior blog posts on the case dismissal in December 2010 and 1-800 Contacts’ fee dispute with its attorneys. The federal trademark statute says judges may…
An Update on PhoneDog v. Kravitz, the Employee Twitter Account Case
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] PhoneDog v. Kravitz, No. C 11-03474 MEJ (N.D. Cal.) (Amended Complaint) (Motion to Dismiss) (PhoneDog Opposition) (Kravitz’s Reply) In November, the court allowed PhoneDog’s claims against Kravitz for conversion and trade secrets to proceed. (“Courts Says…
Nov.-Dec. 2011 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman Marketing and Advertising * Facebook is putting Sponsored Stories in user newsfeeds. Naturally, they will make the ad label almost invisible. Yet another reason to hate Facebook, and what a desperate act of financial overreaching to goose…
Keyword Advertiser Mostly Defeats Trademark Lawsuit–Scooter Store v. SpinLife
By Eric Goldman Scooter Store, Inc. v. SpinLife.com, LLC, 2011 WL 6415516 (S.D. Ohio Dec. 21, 2011). The Justia page. This is a spirited litigation between two retailers of wheelchairs, motorized scooters and related items. Maybe that retailing sector is…
Hyundai Gets a Pass from the FTC on Endorsement Issues, in Part Due to Its Social Media Policy
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with updated comments from Eric] In re Hyundai Motor America, FTC File No. 112-3110 (Nov. 16, 2011) [.pdf] We’ve posted on the FTC endorsement guidelines, which broadly require disclosure of relationships, and incentives provided to those…
Facebook “Sponsored Stories” Publicity Rights Lawsuit Survives Motion to Dismiss–Fraley v. Facebook
By Eric Goldman Fraley v. Facebook, Inc., 2011 WL 6303898 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 16, 2012) Because Facebook does so many things that aren’t in users’ interests, their “Sponsored Stories” program barely registers. Nevertheless, Sponsored Stories demonstrates why many people are…
Ohio Court of Appeals: Lawyer-Plaintiff Can’t Sue for Misleading Email Ads Which he Knew Were Misleading — Cicero v. American Satelitte
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Cicero v. American Satellite, Inc., 2011-Ohio-4918 (Ohio Ct. App. Sept. 27, 2011) [pdf] Cicero is a lawyer who lives and practices in the state of Ohio. He sued defendant based on 85 marketing emails sent on…