EFF’s Guide to Griping, Plus Some Recommendations of My Own
By Eric Goldman The EFF has posted “Avoiding Gripes About Your Gripe (or Parody) Site,” which includes 6 prophylactic recommendations to prospective gripers: 1) Be noncommercial — no ads, no links to commercial sites, no affiliate links, no Café Press…
Expansive Preemption of State Anti-Spam Laws Is Curtailed
Courts are splitting over the scope of CAN-SPAM preemption, with even judges in the same federal division disagreeing. By Ethan Ackerman It is a truth universally recognized that a legal blogger whose legal positions cause them to eat crow or…
Takedown Notice Sent to Parent Doesn’t Affect Subsidiary’s 512(c) Defense–Perfect 10 v. Amazon
By Eric Goldman Perfect 10, Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., 2009 WL 1334364 (C.D. Cal. May 12, 2009) This long-running case is working its way through the district court after the Ninth Circuit’s 2007 remand. See my previous blog posts about…
Google Liberalizes US Trademark Policy: “What, Me Worry?” Part 2
By Eric Goldman In my Deregulating Relevancy article from a few years ago, I explained how trademark law was having pernicious consequences for online conversations. Among other unwanted effects, trademark law hinders online discussions about trademarks even when both conversationalists…
Firepond “Copycat” Lawsuit Filed Against Google–John Beck Amazing Profits v. Google
By Eric Goldman John Beck Amazing Profits, LLC v. Google Inc. 2:2009cv00151 (E.D. Tex. complaint filed May 14, 2009). The Justia page. Earlier this week, a group of lawyers filed a class action lawsuit against Google and its distribution partners…
Ninth Circuit Mucks Up 47 USC 230 Jurisprudence….AGAIN!?–Barnes v. Yahoo
By Eric Goldman Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc., 2009 WL 1232367 (9th Cir. May 7, 2009). My 2005 blog post on the lower court ruling. Reading Barnes v. Yahoo, I had an overpowering sense of deja vu. Almost precisely 2 years…
Google Hit With Major Class Action Trademark Lawsuit Over Trademarked Keyword Ad Sales–FPX v. Google
By Eric Goldman FPX, LLC v. Google, Inc., 2:2009cv00142 (E.D. Tex. complaint filed May 11, 2009) In retrospect, it seems so obvious. Why were the lawyers for these chickenscratch plaintiffs (Rescuecom? Check ‘n’ Go?) suing Google over trademarked keyword ad…
George Mason Talk and Paper on Economics of Reputational Information
By Eric Goldman Last week I presented a version of my Economics of Reputational Information talk at the Third Annual Conference in the Law and Economics of Innovation series, an event co-sponsored by George Mason Law School and Microsoft. My…
Google’s International Trademark Policy Change: “What, Me Worry?”
By Eric Goldman I’ve had a number of discussions with folks about what Google would do in light of its adverse ruling in Rescuecom. Personally, I didn’t expect them to do much of anything right now. I still think they…
April 2009 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman [Just a reminder that I am posting some “quick links” exclusively to my Twitter account, so if you want to keep up with everything, follow me at Twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed.] Marketing/Spam * Zango…