CYBERsitter Sues Google for AdWords Trademark Infringement
By Eric Goldman CYBERsitter LLC v. Google, Inc., CV12-5293 (C.D. Cal. complaint filed June 18, 2012) CYBERsitter competes with Net Nanny and ContentWatch (apparently both owned by the same entity, ContentWatch) in the Internet filtering software niche. CYBERsitter claims ContentWatch…
More Evidence That the Initial Interest Confusion Doctrine is Dying–Dwyer v. Sensocon
By Eric Goldman Dwyer Instruments, Inc. v. Sensocon, Inc., 2012 WL 2049921 (N.D. Ind. June 5, 2012) Earlier this year, I blogged about some research I had done suggesting the declining fortunes of the initial interest confusion doctrine. I anticipated…
Trademark Registrant Isn’t Required to Shut Down Competitive Keyword Advertisers–STK v. Backrack
By Eric Goldman STK LLC v. Backrack, Inc., Cancellation No. 92049332, 2012 WL 2024459 (TTAB May 21, 2012). The TTAB designated this opinion “non-precedential,” which they do with the vast majority of their opinions. Deborah Gerhardt, Leah Chan Grinvald and…
Google Wins Trade Secret Lawsuit Over Ill-Fated Coffee Meeting–Booloon v. Google
By Eric Goldman Booloon, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 2012 WL 1898937 (Cal. App. Ct. May 25, 2012) Qin Zhang is a technology entrepreneur and an attorney (meaning she’s joined the illustrious–and burgeoning–club of lawyers-as-plaintiffs who have sued Google). Zhang claims…
Lawsuit Against Google for Putting Search Queries in Referral URLs Moves Forward – Gaos v. Google
By Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric Gaos v. Google, 5:10-CV 4809 (N.D. Cal.; Mar. 29, 2012) Gaos sued Google based on the theory that: (1) Google allows website owners (and third parties) to see what search terms a user…
Jan.-Feb. 2012 Quick Links, Part 5 (Advertising, Consumer Reviews & Search Engines)
By Eric Goldman Advertising and Marketing * CLRB Hanson Industries, LLC v. Weiss & Associates, PC, 2012 WL 20539 (9th Cir. Jan. 5, 2012). Ninth Circuit rejected a challenge to the CLRB Hanson v. Google settlement over AdWords budget caps….
Top Internet Law Developments of 2011
By Eric Goldman As usual, I’m running late with my year-end recap. This post begins with my countdown of the top 5 Internet Law developments of 2011, then it lists other interesting developments and cases. It concludes with some of…
Google Gets Significant Win in AdWords/Parked Domains Case
By Eric Goldman In re Google AdWords Litigation, 2012 WL 28068 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2012) Google defeated class certification in an AdWords-related case over Google’s placement of ads on parked domains. This almost certainly ends this case in practice,…
Just How Egregiously Must a Trademark Plaintiff Act Before a Court Awards Attorneys’ Fees to the Defendant?–1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com
By Eric Goldman 1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com, 2012 WL 113812 (D. Utah Jan. 13, 2012). Prior blog posts on the case dismissal in December 2010 and 1-800 Contacts’ fee dispute with its attorneys. The federal trademark statute says judges may…
Attempted Trademark Workaround to 47 USC 230 Immunity Fails Badly—Ascentive v. PissedConsumer [Catch-Up Post]
By Eric Goldman [This is one of the top dozen or so most important Internet law opinions of 2011, but unfortunately it came out just as I was going into my exam-grading exile and I had to put blogging it…