Departing Employee Required to Transfer Social Media Accounts–Hyperheal Hyperbarics v. Shapiro
This is an ownership dispute over a departing employee’s right to use social media accounts and trademarks of an employer. The facts are somewhat atypical. Shapiro founded a company called Hyperheal Hyperbarics to provide “hyperbaric oxygen therapy”. In 2014, the…
Roca Labs’ Anti-Review Clause Violates FTC Act–FTC v. Roca Labs
Good news: a court ruled that Roca Labs anti-review clause violates the law. It’s shocking that Roca Labs chose to defend this practice in court, so it’s not surprising that the judge didn’t endorse it. Bad news: the court relied…
Another Failed Trademark Suit Over Competitive Keyword Advertising–JIVE v. Wine Racks America
The parties compete in the wine rack/wine cellar business. The defendant bought the plaintiff’s trademarks for keyword ads. The plaintiff alleges this creates initial interest confusion. The 10th Circuit’s Lens.com ruling governs this case. The court says that case makes…
Twitter Gets Powerful Win in “Must-Carry” Lawsuit–Taylor v. Twitter
This is one of several lawsuits brought by disseminators of anti-social content (in this case, white supremacist content) seeking to prevent social media providers from cutting them off. In June, the lower court surprisingly rejected Twitter’s dismissal motion for the…
Negative Keywords Help Defeat Preliminary Injunction–DealDash v. ContextLogic
DealDash and Wish are e-commerce vendors. For a while, Wish offered a service called “Deal Dash” for time-limited bargains. Immediately after DealDash sued, Wish renamed its service “Bargain Blitz” and pulled the “DealDash” term from all advertising. DealDash still pressed…
An Update on the Constitutional Court Challenge to FOSTA–Woodhull Freedom v. US (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Alex F. Levy Following the initial filings in Woodhull v. Sessions (summarized here), defendants filed a combined opposition to the motion for preliminary injunction and motion to dismiss (Dkt #16) on July 12th, 2018. Plaintiffs then filed…
The Florida Bar and Competitive Keyword Advertising: A Tragicomedy (in 3 Parts)
In the late 2000s, keyword advertising was one of Internet Law’s hottest topics. Now, not so much. Relatively few lawsuits are filed; they rarely last long in court; and most trademark owners have moved on. But in the Florida Bar,…
Advertiser’s Suit Against Google Loses for Third (and Final) Time–Abid v. Google
I previously described this case: “Abid markets cancer-curing honey. He bought AdWords to promote his MightyHoney website. Google rejected the ads.” The court has dismissed this pro se lawsuit twice already, each time without prejudice. Prior blog posts from April…
Unlinked Webpage Doesn’t Support Trademark Infringement–Nelson-Ricks v. Lakeview
A now-defunct cheese company owned two brands, “Banquet” and “Nelson Ricks Creamery.” The defendant bought the Banquet brand and associated website, plus it got a limited license to use the Nelson Ricks Creamery brand. The plaintiff bought the Nelson Ricks…
Trolling the Internet for Photos Creates Copyright Headaches for Ad Agency (and the Advertiser)–Laspata v. Rimowa
Laspata is “a boutique creative marketing agency” that charges a lot of money. For its client, Laspata created a 1920s-themed “lookbook” called “Speechless” that riffed on the Academy Award-winning movie The Artist. Rimowa makes luggage priced above my budget. Meire…