No Liability for Providing User-Selected Category Tags–Whitney v. Xcentric
By Eric Goldman Whitney Information Network v. Xcentric Ventures, No. 2:04-cv-47-FtM-34SPC (M.D. Fla. Feb. 15, 2008) On remand from the 11th Circuit, the district court once again found that 47 USC 230 protects Rip-off Report and related entities from a…
Turnitin Lawsuit to Be Dismissed–AV v. iParadigms
By Eric Goldman A.V. v. iParadigms, LLC, No. 07-0293 (E.D. Va. removal from trial docket Jan. 9, 2008) iParadigms, the operators of the Turnitin plagiarism detection tool, issued a confusing press release earlier this week announcing that the lawsuit against…
Classic Article on “Cybermediaries”
By Eric Goldman Mitra B. Sarkar et al., Intermediaries and Cybermediaries: A Continuing Role for Mediating Players in the Electronic Marketplace, J. COMPUTER MEDIATED COMMUNICATIONS, 1995 I’ve been working on my Brand Spillovers paper, which in part addresses the trademark…
Jan. 2008 Quick Links (IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman Trademarks and Domain Names * Adidas America, Inc. v. Payless Shoesource, Inc., 2007 WL 4482201 (D. Oregon Dec. 21, 2007). This case (1) discusses whether advice of counsel is a defense against willfulness in the trademark context,…
Jan. 2008 Quick Links (Non-IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman 47 USC 230 * Doe v. SexSearch, the case absolving a website for age verification of its users, has been appealed. * The Supreme Court denied cert in Parker v. Google. See 2008 WL 114262. * NYT…
1-800 SKI VAIL Doesn’t Infringe–Vail Associates v. Vend-Tel-Co
By Eric Goldman Vail Associates, Inc. v. Vend-Tel-Co., Ltd., 2008 WL 342272 (10th Cir. Feb. 7, 2008) This case nicely illustrates that a vanity 800 number containing a third party trademark doesn’t create a likelihood of consumer confusion. To the…
Third Circuit Says Google Isn’t State Actor–Jayne v. Google Founders
By Eric Goldman Jayne v. Google Internet Search Engine Founders, No. 07-4083 (3rd Cir. Feb. 7, 2008) You may recall Jayne v. Google Founders, one of several wacky pro se lawsuits filed against Google last summer. When I first saw…
Kentucky Court Votes Keyword Ads = TM Use in Commerce–TDI v. Golf Preservations
By Eric Goldman T.D.I. International, Inc. v. Golf Preservations, Inc., 2008 WL 294531 (E.D. Ky. Jan. 31, 2008) In a thinly reasoned opinion with meager facts, a Kentucky federal court meekly voted that keyword advertising is a trademark use in…
State of the Net Conference Recap
By Eric Goldman Today I attended the State of the Net conference, sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee. This event has become the “go-to” event for Internet policy wonks. Well over 300 people attended, including many well-known folks….
ABA IP Section Quietly Considering Anti-Consumer Proposals to Regulate Keyword Advertising
By Corynne McSherry and Eric Goldman [Eric’s note: this is a bit of an unusual post for this blog, as it is being simultaneously posted both here and on the EFF Deep Links site] The tussle over keyword advertising has…