Australian Court Says Google Isn’t Liable for Advertiser’s Misleading Ad–ACCC v. Trading Post (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Mark Bender, with some comments by Eric Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Trading Post Australia Pty Ltd [2011] FCA 1086 (September 22, 2011, corrected October 10, 2011) [Eric’s introduction: Mark Bender is a business law lecturer…
Yelp Gets Complete Win in Advertiser “Extortion” Case–Levitt v. Yelp
By Eric Goldman Levitt v. Yelp Inc., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124082 (N.D Cal. Oct. 26, 2011) A group of advertisers sued Yelp for allegedly extorting them to buy ads from Yelp with the implied/express threat that Yelp would degrade…
Lawsuit Against Google Over Invalid Clicks and Special Partner Advertising Dismissed — Woods v. Google
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Woods v. Google, 5:10-cv-1263-JF (N.D. Cal.; Aug 10, 2011) This is an advertiser vs. Google lawsuit where the plaintiff argued on behalf of a putative class that (1) he was improperly charged…
Q3 2011 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman Advertising Search Marketing * Search Engine Land: “In many cases, it is worth buying keywords even if you rank organically for them.” Similarly, a Google study indicates that PPC advertising lifts clicks on organic results. Prior blog…
In Facebook’s Lawsuit Against Alleged Spammer, Court Denies MaxBounty’s Motion to Dismiss
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Facebook v. MaxBounty, 10-Cv-04712 (N.D. Cal. Sept 14, 2011) Facebook is suing MaxBounty for allegedly running an affiliate network which dupes people into fanning Facebook pages, promoting the page to their friends, and signing up for…
Lawyer Hit With $4.2 Million Judgment in Junk Fax Class Action — Holtzman v. Turza
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Holtzman v. Turza, 08 C 2014 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 29, 2011) Apparently reports of the fax machine’s death are greatly exaggerated. People still use fax machines. Holtzman sued Turza for receiving unsolicited faxes. The court certified…
Reflections on the DOJ-Google Half-Billion Deal over Illegal Pharma Ads (July-August 2011 Quick Links, Part 2)
By Eric Goldman I haven’t previously written on the DOJ’s bust of Google over illegal pharmaceutical ads, partially because I couldn’t reconcile my views about this enforcement action. From my vantage point, this action equally fits into two dichotomous stories,…
Court Invalidates Agreement Governing Toyota’s Online Prank Contest — Duick v. Toyota
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Duick v. Toyota, B224839 (Ca Ct. App.; Aug. 31, 2011) Toyota and Saatchi & Saatchi ran a marketing campaign where a visitor to the Toyota Matrix website could designate a separate person who would receive prank…
Google Gets a Good Win in the MyTriggers Lawsuit
By Eric Goldman BFS Finance v. My Triggers Co., 09CV-14836 (Franklin County Court of Common Pleas, Aug. 31, 2011) This lawsuit started all so innocently. It was just a routine collections matter against MyTriggers, an AdWords advertiser, for a few…
Pillow Pets Knockoff Enjoined from Keyword Advertising–CJ Products v Snuggly Plushez
By Eric Goldman CJ Products LLC v. Snuggly Plushez LLC, 2011 WL 3667750 (E.D.N.Y. Aug. 22, 2011) Pillow Pets are cuddly and soft, but if you make knockoff versions of them, be prepared to meet the sharp end of their…