Avvo Wins Big in Ratings Lawsuit–Browne v. Avvo
By Eric Goldman Browne v. Avvo, C07-0920RSL (W.D. Wash. motion to dismiss granted Dec. 18, 2007) The lawsuit against Avvo for lawyer ratings has been dismissed without leave to amend. This is a big win for Avvo. The ruling turns…
Oct.-Nov. 2007 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Marketing/Branding * To stimulate demand for its services, the British postal service is pointing out that snail mail is a good way to use olfactory marketing. Try to keep up with THAT, spammers! But doesn’t this give…
Internet Doctor Gets Extra Jail Time for Using Website–US v. Hanny
By Eric Goldman U.S. v. Hanny, 2007 WL 4322265 (8th Cir. Dec. 12, 2007) Given its blatant illegality, I’m a little surprised that we don’t hear more about busts of companies and individuals selling prescription drugs over the Internet. I…
Google Resists Subpoena for Keyword Ad Purchases–Connor Sport Court v. Google
By Eric Goldman Connor Sport Court International, Inc. v. Google Inc., CV-06-3066 PHX JAT // CV 07-80252 (N.D. Cal. motion to compel filed Oct. 31, 2007) This summer, I reported on trademark litigation between Connor Sport Court and Rhino Court….
Vendor of Illicit Phone Records Not Protected by 230–FTC v. Accusearch
By Eric Goldman Federal Trade Commission v. Accusearch, Inc., 06-CV-105-D (D. Wy. Sept. 28, 2007) Accusearch (a/k/a Abika) offers for sale records of telephone calls made by telephone subscribers. Abika doesn’t acquire the records itself directly from the phone companies;…
Telephone Numbers as Identity Authenticators–Abrams v. Facebook
By Eric Goldman I think it’s interesting to read these two developments side-by-side: Development #1: Abrams v. Facebook, Inc., C07-05378 (N.D. Cal. complaint filed Oct. 22, 2007). A woman initiates a class action lawsuit against Facebook because Facebook’s users send…
September 2007 Quick Links Part I
By Eric Goldman Marketing * From the NYT: There are 200+ auto repair shops in the “Iron Triangle” area in New York, and apparently they compete fiercely with each other, shouting out price quotes as cars needing repairs drive by….
August 2007 Quick Links, Part I
By Eric Goldman Search Engines * Google extended its ad serving technology to consider a user’s past search phrases in addition to their current search term. * Greg Linden: “Google is teasing too many lions.” * BusinessWeek: Some VCs are…
Google’s AdWords Contract Upheld Again, But Advertiser Lawsuit Against Google Continues–CLRB Hanson v. Google
By Eric Goldman CLRB Hanson Industries LLC v. Google Inc., 5:05-cv-03649-JW (N.D. Cal. Aug. 21, 2007) This lawsuit is one of several advertiser lawsuits against search engines from 2005 (see my initial post when the lawsuit was filed). Many of…
Food Tastes Better When Branded “McDonalds”
By Eric Goldman Recently I blogged on a study showing that consumers like search results more when they are branded as coming from Google, even if the search results are substantively identical. We now have a similar study, this time…