Catching Up on Three Keyword Advertising Cases–Hearts on Fire, Romeo & Juliette, AAA
By Eric Goldman Three trademark owner v. advertiser rulings from the past month: Hearts on Fire Co. v Blue Nile, Inc., 2009 WL 794482 (D. Mass. March 27, 2009). The Justia page. This is an interesting and potentially very important…
eBay Resales Constitute Trademark Infringement Despite First Sale Doctrine–Beltronics v. Midwest
By Eric Goldman Beltronics USA Inc. v. Midwest Inventory Distribution, No. 07-3340 (10th Cir. April 9, 2009) This is yet another online channel leakage case (for my last visit to this topic, see the Mary Kay v. Weber case). Beltronics…
Graeme Dinwoodie on Rescuecom v. Google
By Eric Goldman [Eric’s note: As I mentioned, I’m getting a lot of private emails about Rescuecom v. Google, including the email from Margreth Barrett that I blogged last week. Today, I got the following email from Graeme Dinwoodie, a…
GoDaddy Sued for Cybersquatting for Parked Domain Names–uBid v. GoDaddy
By Eric Goldman uBid, Inc. v. GoDaddy Group, Inc., 1:09-cv-02123 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed April 6, 2009) Domain name parking programs have generated some lawsuits, including the Vulcan Golf v. Google lawsuit (plus several “me-too” lawsuits following in its footsteps)…
Q1 2009 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Trademarks/Domain Names * The ridiculous Jones Day v. BlockShopper case settled. The settlement agreement. The ABA Journal and Legal Blog Watch stories. Commentary from CMLP, Paul Levy, Tom O’Toole. * The trial court denouement of the S&L…
Margreth Barrett on Rescuecom v. Google
By Eric Goldman [Eric’s note: my email in-box is bulging with emails trying to sort out last Friday’s Second Circuit decision in Rescuecom v. Google. I got the email below from Margreth Barrett, a law professor at UC Hastings who…
Second Circuit Says Google’s Keyword Ad Sales May Be Use in Commerce–Rescuecom v. Google
By Eric Goldman Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc., 562 F.3d 123 (2d Cir. April 3, 2009) The Second Circuit has issued its long-anticipated opinion in Rescuecom v. Google over Google’s sale of trademarked keywords as ad triggers. In a disappointing…
“Locate Plastic Surgeon” Trademark Registrant Brings Dubious Enforcement Action–Ezzo v. Google
By Eric Goldman Ezzo v. Google, 2:09-CV-00159 (M.D. Fla. complaint filed March 17, 2009). The Justia page. I’m suffering ennui about blogging pro se lawsuits against companies like Google. Most of them are completely unmeritorious and poorly expressed, so they…
Union Organizers’ Activist/Gripe Sites Don’t Support Trademark Claims–Cintas v. Unite Here
By Eric Goldman Cintas Corp. v. Unite Here, 2009 WL 604099 (S.D.N.Y. March 9, 2009). The Unite Here press release. Cintas, a Fortune 500 company, manufactures uniforms. The defendants are unions and affiliated folks interested in unionizing Cintas’ workforce. This…
Utah HB 450 Dies in Utah Senate Without a Vote
By Eric Goldman After barely passing the Utah House, Utah HB 450–Utah’s third ill-fated attempt to regulate keyword advertising–died quietly last night when the Utah Senate failed to act on it before the Utah Legislature adjourned for the year. My…