More Confirmation That Google Has Won the AdWords Trademark Battles Worldwide (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman I’ve repeatedly asserted that the trademark battles over keyword advertising are near the end. As further evidence of that, recently Google ($GOOG) liberalized its international trademark policy for advertising via AdWords. Previously, Google allowed trademark owners…
Why Google’s Commitment Letter to the FTC Isn’t Commercial Speech (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Josh King [Eric’s introduction: Josh King is Vice President, Business Development & General Counsel at Avvo. Among other ways we work together, he’s a fellow board member of Public Participation Project, which is advocating for a federal…
Linkwrap of Google’s Antitrust Deal With the FTC
By Eric Goldman It seems like forever since the FTC settled its antitrust investigation with Google, even though it’s been less than 3 months. My recap post from the initial announcement. We’re waiting for the European denouement, but in the…
It’s Legally Okay if Google Thinks Your Name and Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Have Something to Do With Each Other (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Stayart v. Google Inc., 2013 WL 811793 (7th Cir. March 6, 2013). Would you be upset if people searching for your name are prompted to search for your name plus the name of an erectile dysfunction drug like…
Amazon’s Merchandising of Its Search Results Doesn’t Violate Trademark Law (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Multi Time Machine, Inc. v. Amazon.com, 2013 WL 638888 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 20, 2013). The complaint. No retailer does a better job of cross-selling to its customers than Amazon.com ($AMZN). Amazon is quite effective at exposing customers to…
Buying Keyword Ads on People’s Names Doesn’t Violate Their Publicity Rights–Habush v. Cannon (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Habush v. Cannon, 2013 WL 627251 (Wisc. App. Ct. Feb. 21, 2013) Can you imagine someone buying Google ($GOOG) AdWords keyword advertising triggered by your name? Most of us wouldn’t dream of it, usually because our names just…
With Its Australian Court Victory, Google Moves Closer to Legitimizing Keyword Advertising Globally (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Google’s ($GOOG) keyword advertising program, AdWords, has been subject to constant legal challenges for the past decade. After an initial period of legal uncertainty, AdWords’ legal fortunes recently have brightened in the United States and Europe. Earlier this…
Another Google AdWords Advertiser Avoids Trademark Liability–Whipple v. Brigman
By Eric Goldman Whipple v. Brigman, 2013 WL 566817 (W.D. N.C. Feb. 13, 2013) I’ve repeatedly said that trademark lawsuits over Google AdWords advertising rarely make financial sense. This case would clearly support that proposition, except both parties proceeded pro…
Google and Yahoo Defeat Trademark Lawsuit Over Keyword Ads–Clara Ison v. Google
By Eric Goldman Clara Ison v. Google, 1-10-CV-163032 (Cal. Superior Ct. January 22, 2013), The fourth amended complaint. The case docket. I try to track every trademark lawsuit regarding Google AdWords. Thus, I am embarrassed to admit that I just…
Are Google Search Results Good Proxies for Secondary Meaning in Trademark Law?
By Eric Goldman I want to call your attention to “The Google Shortcut to Trademark Law” by Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, a post-doc at Yale ISP. You might not be familiar with Lisa’s work because to date she’s mostly focused on…