Academic Debate over Trademark Use in Commerce
…has been dispositive in several noteworthy defense wins, including the 1-800 Contacts v. WhenU and Rescuecom v. Google cases. Yet, some experts, such as Prof. McCarthy, believe that the prima…
Utah Bans Keyword Advertising [Updated]
…protect a few noisy Utah trademark owners with weak trademarks (such as 1-800 Contacts and Overstock.com) from legitimate competition via adware. In the process, the law took technology out of…
Rescuecom v. Google Appellant Brief
…that decided 1-800 Contacts v. WhenU, which held that an adware vendor (WhenU) wasn’t making a trademark use in commerce by selling trademarked keywords. You can find the appellant’s brief…
Haifa University Search Engine Conference Recap
…trespass to chattels, GEICO, Rescuecom or 1-800 Contacts were mentioned only in passing or not at all. The fact that we could go almost 11 hours without reaching these topics…
Keyword Ads and Metatags Don’t Confuse Consumers–J.G. Wentworth v. Settlement Funding
…behalf the Wells Fargo, U-Haul and 1-800 Contacts adware cases. However, the court is more persuaded by the Buying for the Home argument that triggering ads based on a trademark…
2006 Blog Year-in-Review
by Eric Goldman Most Popular Blog Posts of the Year 1) O’Reilly and the “Web 2.0” Trademark 2) NYT on Fair Use and Documentaries (overflow from Slashdotting of #1) 3)…
Top Cyberlaw Developments of 2006
By Eric Goldman and John Ottaviani [Eric’s Note: I will be in Israel for the rest of the year. So while it’s a little premature to publish an end-of-the-year recap,…
Courts Can’t Figure Out if Buying Keywords Constitutes Trademark Use–Buying for the Home v. Humble Abode
…denied the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the use in commerce issue. For more on why this result is wrong, see my writeups on the Edina Realty and 800-JR-Cigar…
Google Wins Keyword Lawsuit–Rescuecom v. Google
By Eric Goldman Rescuecom Corp. v. Google, Inc., No. 5:04-CV-1055 (N.D.N.Y. Sept. 28, 2006). You can find the ruling here (WARNING: 1.7MB file) Introduction and the 1-800 Contacts Precedent Last…
Search Engine Liability for Selling Keywords Redux–800-JR Cigar v. GoTo.com
By Eric Goldman 800-JR Cigar, Inc. v. GoTo.com, Inc., 2006 WL 1971659 (D. N.J. July 13, 2006) This is a confusing but important case about search engine liability for selling…