Keyword Advertising as Corporate Identity Theft—Sen. Eastman Defends New Utah Law Banning Keyword Advertising
By Eric Goldman Last month, Utah quietly passed SB 236 to outlaw keyword advertising. Last week, SB 236’s sponsor, Sen. Dan Eastman, blogged a defense of the law. I really respect Sen. Eastman for engaging his critics in the blogosphere,…
March 2007 Quick Links Part 2
By Eric Goldman Yesterday I posted the Google edition of my list of interesting items from March. Today I post the remainder of items that caught my eye last month. Trademarks/Brands * Bosley Medical Institute v. Kremer, 2007 WL 935708…
March 2007 Quick Links, Google Edition
By Eric Goldman My monthly recap of interesting news items grew too big this month, so I’m breaking it into two postings. With so much attention directed towards Google, this first edition of March’s quick links will focus just on…
Oracle v. SAP Lawsuit Comments
By Eric Goldman Oracle Corporation v. SAP AG, 3:07-cv-01658-EMC (N.D. Cal. complaint filed March 22, 2007) I realize I’m a couple weeks late to this story, but it’s too important/interesting a case not to address. TomorrowNow (TN) is a company…
AFP v. Google Settles
By Eric Goldman The Agence France-Presse v. Google lawsuit has settled. See news reports: AP, CNET News.com. Like it did with the Associated Press, Google struck a licensing deal for AFP content, including indexing it in Google News. Financial terms…
When Congress Giveth, is the Dormant Commerce Clause Taken Away?–Free Speech Coalition v. Shurtleff
by Ethan Ackerman Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Shurtleff, 2:05CV949DAK (D. Utah March 23, 2007) Why do courts seem eager to use CAN-SPAM’s preemption language to give state email laws a free pass from the Dormant Commerce Clause? Utah’s courts…
Google AdWords Contract Upheld (Again)–Feldman v. Google
By Eric Goldman Feldman v. Google, Inc., 2007 WL 966011 (E.D. Pa. March 29, 2007) Yet another click fraud lawsuit, this time involving one of the 556 plaintiffs that opted out of the Google click fraud settlement. In my prior…
Regulating “Stealth” Marketing
By Eric Goldman I’ve never understood the legal distinctions between “editorial content” and “marketing.” To me, content is content. Certainly, content can have problematic/harmful attributes, such as false content. And often I want to know more about the identity of…
Utah Bans Keyword Advertising [Updated]
By Eric Goldman Utah SB 236 (the “Trademark Protection Act”), enacted March 19, 2007 Legislators enact stupid laws all of the time, but some laws transcend mere stupidity and produce a single 3 letter response: WTF? And no legislature has…