I’m Not a Fan of this Craptastic Trademark Lawsuit–Fancaster v. Comcast
By Eric Goldman Fancaster, Inc. v. Comcast Corp., 2011 WL 6426292 (D.N.J. Dec. 22, 2011). We’ve seen some pathetic trademark lawsuits this year (SUE MOAR KALE, anyone?), but I’ll nominate this long-running litigation money-sink (going over 3.5 years) as the…
Academic Literature Recap, Q4 2011
By Eric Goldman I’m mired in grading heck, slogging my way through 146 exams. As a result, blogging has taken a back seat. I have several key items to blog, including the UMG v. Shelter Capital and Ascentive v. Opinion…
More on Ex Parte Cutoffs of Foreign “Rogue” Domain Names
By Eric Goldman I got the following email regarding our prior three posts on ex parte cutoffs of foreign “rogue” websites in the Chanel, True Religion and Philip Morris cases (I’m republishing the email with permission): __________ All of the…
Does the House Judiciary Committee Debating SOPA Know What’s Going On In the Courts?–Philip Morris v. Jiang
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Philip Morris USA, Inc. v. Jiang, 11-cv-24049 (S.D. Fla.) (TRO entered on Nov. 16, 2011) (Prelim. Injunction Entered on Dec. 12, 2011) This is yet another case where a court orders broad…
If You Dislike SOPA, You’ll Dislike This Case Too–True Religion v. Xiaokang Lei
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] True Religion v. Xiaokang Lei (S.D.N.Y.) (TRO; Nov. 18, 2011) (Prelim. Injunction; Dec. 2, 2011). The initial complaint. We recently blogged about a case where Chanel obtained surprisingly broad remedies against domain…
The OPEN Act: Significantly Flawed But More Salvageable Than SOPA/PROTECT-IP
By Eric Goldman Sen. Wyden and Rep. Issa have released a draft of OPEN: Online Protection & ENforcement of Digital Trade Act, intended as an alternative to SOPA/PROTECT-IP. See my prior posts opposing SOPA and linkwrapping the discussion. Unlike SOPA’s…
Employee’s Claims Against Employer for Unauthorized Use of Social Media Accounts Move Forward–Maremont v. SF Design Group
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Maremont v. Susan Fredman Design Group, Ltd., et al., 10 C 7811 (N.D. Ill.; Dec. 7, 2011) I blogged about a case earlier this year where a plaintiff sued her former employer for improperly accessing the…
I Don’t Heart SOPA or PROTECT-IP: A Linkwrap
By Eric Goldman Venkat and I have been covering SOPA and related topics. In case you missed our posts: * Why I Oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/E-PARASITES Act * Court OKs Private Seizure of Domain Names Which Allegedly…
Trademark Lawsuit Against Groupon Isn’t Going Well–Groupion v. Groupon
By Eric Goldman Groupion LLC v. Groupon, Inc., 2011 WL 5913992 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 28, 2011) Groupion provides CRM software as a service (SaaS). Groupon distributes “deal of the day” offers that are typically unprofitable for advertisers and often have…
Facebook’s Trademark Enforcement Effort Against “Faceporn” Hits Jurisdictional Snag — Facebook v. Pedersen
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Facebook, Inc. v. Pedersen, et al., 10-cv-04673 (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 29, 2011) Facebook sued Pedersen and Retro Invent, who are based in Norway and run the “Faceporn” site. “Faceporn” is a website which features pornographic content…