Social Search Services Duel Over “Post Post” Mark — Boathouse Group v. TigerLogic
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Boathouse Group v. TigerLogic Corp., 10-12125-NMG (D. Mass.; March 7, 2011) Background: Boathouse developed a “social media search and curation application” called POSTPOST which it launched at postpo.st in August 2010. Its application allows users to…
Important Ninth Circuit Ruling on Keyword Advertising, Plus Recaps of the Past 4 Months of Keyword Ad Decisions
By Eric Goldman Network Automation, Inc. v. Advanced System Concepts, Inc., 2011 WL 815806 (9th Cir. March 8, 2011) [warning: this blog post is nearly 5,000 words] Introduction We’ve had surprisingly few appellate decisions involving keyword advertising generally, and almost…
Stanford Technology Law Review Symposium on Secondary IP Liability
By Eric Goldman Last week we had a cyberlaw-fiesta in the Silicon Valley, the likes of which have been rarely (if ever) seen before. The Stanford Technology Law Review hosted a symposium on Thursday on Internet intermediary liability, then we…
Jan.-Feb. 2011 Quick Links, Part 3 (Trademarks, Domain Names and Trade Secrets Edition)
By Eric Goldman Trademarks and Domain Names * From my perspective, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) domain name seizures are one of the US government’s top 5 all-time worst assaults on the Internet’s integrity. DHS’s ICE division is grabbing…
Business Sues Facebook to Restore Its Fan Page–Complexions v. Complexions Day Spa
By Eric Goldman Complexions Inc. v. Complexions Day Spa and Wellness Center, Inc., 1:11-cv-00197-GLS -DRH (NDNY complaint filed Feb. 18, 2011) The primary litigants are two identically named but geographically separated day spas. It appears they are colliding online. This…
Savvy Louisiana Ruling on Metatags–Southern Snow v. Snowizard
By Eric Goldman Southern Snow Mfg. Inc. v. Sno Wizards Holdings, Inc., 2011 WL 601639 (E.D. La. Feb. 16, 2011) Have I ever mentioned how much I hate metatags cases? They have led to some godawful rulings. But surprisingly, today’s…
Google Suffers Surprising Preliminary Loss in Keyword Advertising Case–Jurin v. Google
By Eric Goldman Jurin v. Google, 2011 WL 572300 (E.D Cal. Feb. 15, 2011) A surprising ruling! You may recall Jurin, trademark owner of the term “styrotrim.” He sued Google in summer 2009, but quickly dismissed the lawsuit after he…
Microsoft Adopts Google-Style Trademark Policy for Keyword Advertising
By Eric Goldman I have gotten several emails relaying this announcement from Microsoft: We are writing to alert you to some pending changes to the trademark policy within the Microsoft Advertising adCenter Intellectual Property Guidelines. Starting March 3, 2011, adCenter…
Comparative Domain Name and Keyword Regulation Talk Slides
By Eric Goldman I have a busy semester of talks, so I will be rolling out some talk slides over the next few days. Today, I’m posting my talk slides from a talk I gave last month at the University…
Top 5 Cyberlaw Developments of 2010, Plus a 2010 Year-in-Review
By Eric Goldman Earlier this Fall, I posted my top 8 trends in Internet law, and that’s a good place to start if you want to see how I think things are developing. Because of that post, this year I’m…