Wikipedia and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) / Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
By Eric Goldman As regular readers know, this is one of my favorite topics! In December 2005 (and renewed December 2006), I predicted that marketers would overrun Wikipedia, contributing to Wikipedia’s demise. As further evidence of this effect, Danny Sullivan’s…
Broad Matching Doesn’t Violate Injunction–Rhino Sports v. Sport Court
By Eric Goldman Rhino Sports, Inc. v. Sport Court, Inc., 2007 WL 1302745 (D. Ariz. May 2, 2007) I’ve lamented before that courts don’t seem to understand broad matching (see here and here). Today, I’m changing my tune. Broad matching…
YouTube Sued Again–Football Association Premier League v. YouTube
By Eric Goldman The Football Association Premier League Ltd v. YouTube, Inc., 1:07-cv-03582-UA (SDNY complaint filed May 4, 2007) Hot on the heels of Viacom’s lawsuit against YouTube, two new plaintiffs are leading a separate lawsuit against YouTube for copyright…
Blogger Protected by Anti-SLAPP Statute–GTX v. Left
By Eric Goldman GTX Global Corp. v. Left, 2007 WL 1300065 (Cal. Ct. App. May 4, 2007) This is one of the first cases explicitly holding that a blogger is protected by anti-SLAPP laws. It’s not really surprising that bloggers…
Utah’s “Don’t Email the Kids” Registry a “Financial Failure”
By Eric Goldman A couple of years ago, Utah and Michigan adopted laws creating “don’t email the kids” registries (called the “Child Protection Registry”–see Utah’s and Michigan’s). These laws allow parents to register email addresses held by kids and requires…
April 2007 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman * Rebecca blogs on CollegeNET, Inc. v. XAP Corp., 2007 WL 927946 (D. Or. March 26, 2007), where a jury awarded $4.5M in damages under 43(a) because the defendant had a privacy policy saying it wouldn’t disclose…
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…