Another Cautionary Tale of Joint Website Ownership–TEG v. Phelps [UPDATED]
By Eric Goldman Third Education Group, Inc. v. Phelps, 675 F. Supp. 2d 916 (E.D. Wis. Nov. 25, 2009). Motion to amend denied January 19, 2010. [UPDATE: In the initial version of this post, Richard Phelps’ story was part of…
Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Survives Motion to Dismiss on Genericness Grounds–FragranceNet v. Les Parfums
By Eric Goldman FragranceNet.com, Inc. v. Les Parfums, Inc., 2009 WL 4609268 (E.D.N.Y. Dec. 8, 2009) In 2007, FragranceNet suffered a stinging loss when it sued a competitor, FragranceX.com, for buying its trademarks as advertising keywords. Interpreting the 1-800 Contacts…
Competitive Keyword Advertiser Wins at Trial–Fair Isaac v. Experian
By Eric Goldman Fair Isaac Corp. v. Experian Information Solutions Inc., 2009 WL 4263699 (D. Minn. Nov. 25, 2009) This is an interesting and complicated lawsuit that hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves. Fair Isaac produces the ubiquitous “FICO” credit…
Case Western “Signifiers in Cyberspace” Conference Recap
By Eric Goldman In mid-November, I attended a conference at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio entitled “Signifiers in Cyberspace: Domain Names & Online Trademarks.” My notes: David Fewer spoke about Canada’s WHOIS policy. The old…
Teeth Whitening System Brings “Sue the World” Lawsuit Against Ad Agency, Competitor and Search Engines–Dazzlesmile v. Azoogle
By Eric Goldman Dazzlesmile, LLC v. Epic Advertising, Inc., 2:09-cv-01043-PMW (D. Utah complaint filed Nov. 23, 2009) Dazzlesmile sells a teeth whitening system. Presumably these systems generate fat profits, because Dazzlesmile has brought an expensive “sue-the-world” lawsuit against its ad…
Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Survives Motion to Dismiss–Morningware v. Hearthware
By Eric Goldman Morningware, Inc. v. Hearthware Home Products, Inc., 2009 WL 3878251 (N.D. Ill. Nov. 16, 2009) I keep getting calls from reporters operating under the misimpression that trademark owner-vs.-search engine keyword advertising lawsuits are more common than trademark…
A Look at Twitter’s Updated Privacy Policy (November 19, 2009)
[Post by Venkat] As noted on Twitter’s blog, Twitter refreshed its privacy policy yesterday. Given that virtually everything Twitter does is placed under the microscope, I’m sure the policy will be pored over in detail. (Here’s a link to the…
Google AdWords Litigation Keeps Rolling In–Parts Geek v. US Auto Parts
By Eric Goldman Parts Geek LLC v. US Auto Parts Network Inc.,3:2009cv05578 (D.N.J. complaint filed Nov. 2, 2009) [warning: 3MB PDF]. The Justia page. In my world, we have an honor code among geeks–thou shalt not harm other geeks. As…
Google AdWords Litigation Updates–Google Adds One Lawsuit and Ends Another
By Eric Goldman It’s been a little quiet on the Google AdWords trademark litigation front in the past couple of months, so it’s timely to check in on the situation. Jurin v. Google, Inc., 2:09-at-01695 (E.D. Cal. complaint filed Oct….
Domain Names as Property Subject to Creditor Claims–Bosh v. Zavala
[Post by Venkat] Most people take it for granted that domain names are property. As such, there shouldn’t be much dispute that domain names are subject to the claims of judgment creditors. But I’ve seen enough resistance to this position…