Facebook Posting That Someone Has Herpes Is Criminal Harassment–Pennsylvania v. Cox
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with a comment by Eric] Commonwealth v. Cox, 2013 PA Super 221 (Aug 2, 2013) [pdf] What is wrong with people? What were you thinking here,…
Tenth Circuit Kills the Initial Interest Confusion Doctrine–1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com
…affiliates through Commission Junction. Two Lens.com affiliates, Dusty Goggans and Ryan McCoy, bought the keyword “1800*]}*Contacts” and similar terms; and McCoy ran at least one ad that displayed “1800 Contacts”…
Judges’ Facebook Friendships Insufficient for Recusal .. Again
…the court says that neither her nor the father’s perception is dispositive. __ While these cases treat Facebook friendships, and in the second case even contacts, as largely irrelevant to…
No New Trials When Jurors Haven’t Adequately Disclosed Facebook Friendships
…to respond to contacts by a defense investigators (and coupled with the juror’s attestation to an affidavit prepared by the state), defendant claimed the juror was biased. The court says…
Suing Over Keyword Advertising Is A Bad Business Decision For Trademark Owners–General Steel v. Chumley (Forbes Cross-Post)
…won summary judgment: J.G. Wentworth v. Settlement Funding (2007); Designer Skin v. S&L Vitamins (2008); 1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com (2010); Montana Camo v. Cabela’s (2011); Jurin v. Google (2012) (note:…
Copyright Trolling Is Really Hard to Do Profitably–Righthaven v. Hoehn
By Eric Goldman Righthaven LLC v. Hoehn, 2013 WL 1908876 (9th Cir. May 9, 2013) It’s been a rough week for copyright trolls. First, Judge Wright destroyed the Prenda Law…
Suing Like It’s 2009: Parts.com Sues Google and Yahoo for Keyword Advertising
…outcome. This lawsuit fits a trend that I’ve mentioned before: trademark owners with crappy trademarks are often unusually pugnacious about enforcing their purported trademark rights. 1-800 Contacts is my premier…
Crazy SOPA-Like Attempt to Hold International Banks Liable for Pharmacy Spam Fails on Jurisdiction Grounds–Unspam v. Chernuk
…minimum contacts with the U.S. as a whole. The court says that defendants do not have sufficient contacts with the United States as a whole for plaintiffs to invoke Rule…
Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Survives Motion to Dismiss–Elcometer v. TCQ-USA
…potential customers who clicked on the link or called the 800 number were given more information that perpetuated possible confusion about the relationship between Elcometer and Paintmeter. The court says…
Ex-Employer’s Hijacking of a LinkedIn Account Is a Publicity Rights Violation–Eagle v. Morgan
…Over Social Media Contacts; Battle Over LinkedIn Account Between Employer and Employee Largely Gutted.) Surprisingly, the case went to trial! Although the court finds that plaintiff adequately proved several of…