Keyword Ad Lawsuit Isn’t Covered By California’s Anti-SLAPP Law
The plaintiff, Los Angeles Yellow Cab, and defendants compete in the taxi industry. The defendants bought keyword ads at the search engines, such as the following triggered by the search “Yellow Cab Los Angeles”: Yellow Cab Los Angeles—Call 800–521–8294 or…
Angie’s List Must Defend Fraud Charges Over Pay-to-Play Review Manipulation (Forbes Cross-Post)
U.S. law is clear that consumer review websites aren’t liable for their users’ reviews. However, plaintiffs are increasingly challenging how review websites publicly describe their review databases. A recent court ruling against Angie’s List highlights how plaintiffs are tendentiously parsing…
Delayed Search Database Updating Isn’t Defamation–Ferrell v. Yahoo and Google
This lawsuit is another unsuccessful attempt to manufacture an American “right to be forgotten.” Keyonna Ferrell sued Google and Yahoo pro se because allegedly she removed images from Pinterest but the search engines didn’t update their search results to reflect…
Trade School’s Domain Name Lawsuit Drops Like a (Granite) Rock
I don’t often blog cases where New Hampshire figures so prominently, so this is a shoutout to all of my New Hampshirian/New Hampshirite friends! The litigants are competitor schools that train tradespeople such as plumbers and gas fitters. Granite State…
Story Byline May Affect Section 230 Immunity–AdvanFort v. Maritime Executive
I previously blogged this case in May. The underlying facts involve the arrest and ultimate release of a ship’s crew that was armed to combat piracy. I’ll focus just on the Section 230 issue. A person involved in the underlying…
Federal Trade Secret Bill Re-Introduced–And It’s Still Troublesome (Guest Blog Post)
You may recall my prior coverage of Congress’ efforts to enact a new federal trade secret cause of action. The Defend Trade Secret Act has been reintroduced to Congress and it deserves your attention. If enacted, it would be among the most…
What’s Worse Than Cleaning Up A Meth Lab? A Trademark Injunction Against Using “Meth Lab Cleanup” In Metatags
Opinions like this make me really crank-y. The litigants compete in the meth lab cleanup business. The plaintiff has registered trademarks for “Meth Lab Cleanup LLC.” Right away, we already know that weaponizing highly descriptive terms like that can cause…
Two 512(f) Rulings Where The Litigants Dispute Copyright Ownership
When is it appropriate to send copyright takedown notices in the midst of an underlying battle over who owns the copyright? This issue is coming up with increasing frequency, as takedown notices can create more battlefronts for the parties to…
Is Amazon Liable For IP Violations By Its Marketplace Vendors? (Forbes Cross-Post)
Animal-shaped pillows are cute and fluffy, except when they spur litigation. Recently, the Milo & Gabby brand sued Amazon for IP infringement because merchants allegedly sold knockoffs of its “Cozy Companion Pillowcases.” Amazon has successfully avoided IP liability for its…
If You’re Going To Incorporate Online T&Cs Into a Printed Contract, Do It Right–Holdbrook v. PCS
The plaintiff runs a pediatric dentistry. It retained defendant PCS to provide cloud services. The dentistry alleges that PCS subsequently locked it out of the cloud services improperly. The dentistry sued PCS for the lockout, and PCS sought to arbitrate…