2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 4 (Section 230)
…2010) (setting forth elements of doctrine and noting doctrine can apply “where a defendant uses the mark to refer to the trademarked good itself”). The district court properly granted summary…
2H 2019 and Q1 2020 Quick Links, Part 2 (Trademarks/Keywords)
…competition because using a competitor’s trademark as a Google AdWords keyword does not infringe the mark as a matter of settled law. BAS is generally correct that—in and of itself—using…
Humvee Can’t Stop Depictions of Its Vehicles in the ‘Call of Duty’ Videogame–AM General v. Activision Blizzard
…trademark law wasn’t designed to regulate this kind of conduct. The court turns to the constantly baffling Rogers v. Grimaldi test to navigate the First Amendment overlay to the trademark…
Ninth Circuit Rallies in Defense of a Parody Dog Toy–Bad Spaniels v. Jack Daniel’s
…representation of the trademark with the idealized image created by the mark’s owner.”…Bad Spaniels comments humorously on precisely those elements that Jack Daniels seeks to enforce here. The fact that…
Newspaper Can Talk About “Derby Pies” Without Infringing Trademarks–Rupp v. Courier Journal
…this is a non-trademark use or not confusing, flipping back and forth between the two concepts. The court says “the Complaint fails to plausibly establish that Defendant used Plaintiff’s Mark…
46 Academics Encourage Congress To Consider Section 230’s Benefits
…generation of start-up businesses aspiring to disrupt the current Internet incumbents. Market Efficiency: Section 230 strengthens markets in at least two ways. First, Section 230 has spurred the creation of…
The “EARN IT” Act Is Another Terrible Proposal to “Reform” Section 230
…or 2255(a)(2) (which appears to be a typo; 2255(a) doesn’t have any subparts). The law reduces the requisite scienter in the underlying statutes from “knowing” to “reckless” violation. any state…
Top Internet Law Developments of 2019
…v. Redbubble offered a glimmer of hope, but it’s illusory. Redbubble defeated direct trademark liability only by outsourcing its key functions; and a secondary trademark claim against Redbubble, or a…
More Evidence That IP Law Protects Individual Emoji Depictions–Nirvana v. Marc Jacobs
…enough to grant a motion to dismiss. Trademark. The court similarly cannot reject a trademark infringement claim: The Complaint sufficiently alleges likelihood of confusion as to the source of the…
Section 230 Helps Search Engine Defeat “Right to Be Forgotten” Lawsuit–Mosha v. Yandex
Looking holistically at the broad arc of Internet Law history, I could make a good case that the EU’s Right to Be Forgotten marked the beginning of the end of…