Ninth Circuit Reconsiders SEO-Destroying Injunction Against DMV.Org–TrafficSchool v. EDriver (Joint Blog Post)
By Rebecca Tushnet and Eric Goldman TrafficSchool.com, Inc. v. Edriver Inc., 2011 WL 3198226 (9th Cir. July 28, 2011) [Over the years, Rebecca and I have blogged dozens of the same cases. However, we’ve never done a joint blog post…
Social Media Marketing Is Relevant to Trademark Confusion Analysis–Quia v. Mattel
By Eric Goldman Quia Corp. v. Mattel, Inc., 2011 WL 2749576 (N.D.Cal. July 14, 2011) Both parties offer educational games under the brand “IXL” (presumably a homophone for “I excel”). The parties dispute who came first. Mattel sought a determination…
June 2011 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Social Media * The Third Circuit issued its en banc rulings in Layshock v. Hermitage School District and J.S. v. Blue Mountain School District, both involving school discipline against kids who created fake MySpace profiles of school…
George Mason “Law and Economics of Search Engines and Online Advertising” Conference Recap
By Eric Goldman Last week I participated in a conference entitled “The Law and Economics of Search Engines and Online Advertising” at George Mason Law School, sponsored by Google. In light of this week’s disclosures about the FTC, state AGs…
What Would a Government-Operated Search Engine Look Like in the US?
By Eric Goldman [Today’s WSJ announcement that the FTC plans to subpoena Google reminds us that search engine bias issues are heating up rather than winding down. I recently posted my article recapping the last 5 years of developments on…
Advertiser Fails in Suit Against Trademark Owner over Google Trademark Complaint–Pandora Jewelers v. Pandora Jewelry
By Eric Goldman Pandora Jewelers 1995, Inc. v. Pandora Jewelry LLC, 2011 WL 2174012 (S.D. Fla. June 2, 2011) The plaintiff is a long-time single-storefront jewelry retailer in Florida (in a strip mall, naturally) with an e-commerce website. Pandora Jewelry,…
“Revisiting Search Engine Bias” Article Now Online
By Eric Goldman In 2006, I published an article entitled Search Engine Bias and the Demise of Search Engine Utopianism in the Yale Journal of Law & Technology. The paper was based on my presentation at a December 2005 conference…
Buying Personal Names for Keyword Ads Isn’t a Publicity Rights Violation–Habush v. Cannon
By Eric Goldman Habush v. Cannon, 09-CV-18149 (Wis. Cir. Ct. June 8, 2011). The June 2010 denial of the motion to dismiss. A good overview article from when the complaint was filed. Introduction A Wisconsin court has said that a…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman Search Engines * Google is working on a deal with the DOJ over illegal pharmaceutical ads and has set aside $500M for fines. Some background on the problem. Google isn’t the only search engine with problematic pharmaceutical…
Keyword Advertising and Domain Name Law Slides
By Eric Goldman Today, I spoke to an audience of Chinese IP judges about keyword advertising and domain names in the United States. I put together some slides and written materials. These materials aren’t especially profound, especially for regular readers,…