Utah Legislators Realizing They Screwed Up By Banning Keyword Advertising
By Eric Goldman Linda Fantin at the Salt Lake Tribune reports on the meeting between Utah legislators and various technology companies (Google, eBay, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, 1-800 Contacts and Overstock.com) to discuss the recently enacted Utah Trademark Protection Act banning…
Quiznos Sued for User-Created Ads–Subway v. Quiznos
By Eric Goldman Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. QIP Holders, LLC, 2007 WL 1186026 (D. Conn. April 19, 2007) Hey all you UGC evangelists, listen up! UGC is terrific, but there can be a dark side regarding legal liability. This case…
Academic Debate over Trademark Use in Commerce
By Eric Goldman As regular blog readers know, a hot area in online trademark law is the “trademark use in commerce” element of the plaintiff’s prima facie case. This element has been dispositive in several noteworthy defense wins, including the…
New(ish) Report on 512 Takedown Notices
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND FREE SPEECH IN THE ONLINE WORLD: How Educational Institutions and Other Online Service Providers Are Coping with Cease and Desist Letters and Takedown Notices by Laura Quilter and Marjorie Heins You may recall that Laura Quilter co-wrote…
Google Sued for Defamatory Search Result–RSA Enterprises v. Bad Business Bureau
By Eric Goldman RSA Enterprises v. Bad Business Bureau, No. 2:07-cv-01882-HAA-ES (D.N.J. complaint filed April 23, 2007) Bad Business Bureau, a/k/a the Rip-off Report, is a well-known repeat Internet defendant (see this article from the Phoenix New Times explaining why)….
Referencing TM in Online Ad Copy May Be TM Use in Commerce–Hamzik v. Zale
By Eric Goldman Hamzik v. Zale Corp./Delaware, 2007 WL 1174863 (NDNY April 19, 2007) Another lawsuit against an advertiser for buying keyword advertising. In this case, the plaintiff claims a trademark in the term “Dating Ring” and says that Zales.com…
Best and Worst Internet Statutes
By Eric Goldman At InformIT, I published an article ranking the best and worst Internet laws. The abstract: “Over the past dozen years, the lure of regulating the Internet has proven irresistible to legislators. In the spirit of good fun,…
Google Gets Mixed Bag in Latest Ruling in American Blinds Case
By Eric Goldman Google, Inc. v. American Blinds & Wallpaper Factory, Inc., C 03-5340 JF (N.D. Cal. April 18, 2007) The lawsuit between Google and American Blinds has been running for 3 1/2 years now, a very long time in…
Judge Kozinski Talks About Cyberlaw
By Eric Goldman Last October, Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit chatted with me in my Cyberspace Law course for 75 minutes. If you listen to the recording, you’ll hear Judge Kozinski’s humorous thoughts on receiving gifts when he…
Keyword Law Talk
By Eric Goldman Tomorrow I’m giving a talk in Dallas entitled “Keyword Law.” In light of the new Utah law, this turns out to be an interesting time to speak on the topic!