New Advertising & Marketing Law Casebook Available for Review
By Eric Goldman For the past 2+ years, Rebecca Tushnet and I have been writing a brand-new casebook on Advertising & Marketing Law. Although some advertising/marketing law textbooks cater to undergraduate classes (such as those in journalism schools, marketing departments…
Claims Against Mylife.com for Allegedly Luring Users to Sign up Using “Your Friend is Looking for you” Emails Proceed — Clerkin v. Mylife
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Clerkin v. Mylife.com, C 11-00527 CW (N.D. Cal. Aug 15, 2011) I do not understand the lure of the “your friend is looking for you . . . sign up to our network to find out…
Google Gets Default Injunction Against AdWord Gamers–Google v. Jackman
By Eric Goldman Google v. Jackman, 2011 WL 3267907 (N.D. Cal. July 28, 2011) This is a default ruling, so the facts are based on Google’s allegations. The defendants ran AdWords campaigns for online pharmacies that sold anabolic steroids. This…
Newspaper’s Discussion About Trademark Owner Protected as Nominative Use–1 800 GET THIN v. Hiltzik
By Eric Goldman 1 800 GET THIN v. Hiltzik, 2:11-cv-00505-ODW -E (C.D. Cal. July 25, 2011) I’m sure any trademark experts reading this post are scratching their heads at the blog post title. Newspapers discussing a trademarked product qualify for…
Ninth Circuit Reconsiders SEO-Destroying Injunction Against DMV.Org–TrafficSchool v. EDriver (Joint Blog Post)
By Rebecca Tushnet and Eric Goldman TrafficSchool.com, Inc. v. Edriver Inc., 2011 WL 3198226 (9th Cir. July 28, 2011) [Over the years, Rebecca and I have blogged dozens of the same cases. However, we’ve never done a joint blog post…
Social Media Marketing Is Relevant to Trademark Confusion Analysis–Quia v. Mattel
By Eric Goldman Quia Corp. v. Mattel, Inc., 2011 WL 2749576 (N.D.Cal. July 14, 2011) Both parties offer educational games under the brand “IXL” (presumably a homophone for “I excel”). The parties dispute who came first. Mattel sought a determination…
Supreme Court Strikes Down Statute Restricting Sale and Use of “Prescriber” Data on First Amendment Grounds — Sorrell v. IMS
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments by Eric] Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., 10-779 (June 23, 2011) [pdf] The Supreme Court struck down a Vermont statute restricting the dissemination of “prescriber-identifiable” information for marketing purposes. While this case was viewed…
Job Posting to LinkedIn Group Doesn’t Violate Non-Solicitation Clause — Enhanced Network Solutions v. Hypersonic Technologies
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Enhanced Network Solutions Group v. Hypersonic Technologies Corp., 2011 WL 2582870 (Ind. Ct. App. June 30, 2011) Enhanced developed software, and had a relationship with Hypersonic, which modified existing software. The two companies often jointly bid…
Court Dismisses Misappropriation Claims Against Facebook Over Its Friend Finder Service — Cohen v. Facebook
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Cohen v. Facebook, C 10-5282 RS (N.D. Cal. June 28, 2011) There are a slew of publicity rights lawsuits pending against Facebook. This one alleged that Facebook misappropriated the names and likenesses of Facebook users by…
Advertiser Fails in Suit Against Trademark Owner over Google Trademark Complaint–Pandora Jewelers v. Pandora Jewelry
By Eric Goldman Pandora Jewelers 1995, Inc. v. Pandora Jewelry LLC, 2011 WL 2174012 (S.D. Fla. June 2, 2011) The plaintiff is a long-time single-storefront jewelry retailer in Florida (in a strip mall, naturally) with an e-commerce website. Pandora Jewelry,…