Google Gets Significant Win in AdWords/Parked Domains Case
By Eric Goldman In re Google AdWords Litigation, 2012 WL 28068 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2012) Google defeated class certification in an AdWords-related case over Google’s placement of ads on parked domains. This almost certainly ends this case in practice,…
Just How Egregiously Must a Trademark Plaintiff Act Before a Court Awards Attorneys’ Fees to the Defendant?–1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com
By Eric Goldman 1-800 Contacts v. Lens.com, 2012 WL 113812 (D. Utah Jan. 13, 2012). Prior blog posts on the case dismissal in December 2010 and 1-800 Contacts’ fee dispute with its attorneys. The federal trademark statute says judges may…
Third Circuit Says Data Breach Plaintiffs Lack Standing Absent Misuse of Data — Reilly v. Ceridian
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Reilly v. Ceridian Corp, 11-1738 (3rd Cir. Dec. 12, 2011) Ceridian is a payroll processing firm. Reilly and Pluemacher were employees of a law firm that was a Ceridian customer. In December 2009, Ceridian suffered a…
Egregious/Overreaching Ex Parte Orders for Rightsowners Keep Coming — Deckers and Richemont
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Deckers v. Liyanghua, 11-cv-07970 (N.D. Ill.; Dec. 15, 2011) (report and recommendation) Deckers proceeds against a slew of domain names in Illinois. The case was originally sealed, but in granting a preliminary…
Copyright Doe Defendant Can’t Quash Disclosure Subpoena Anonymously—Hard Drive Productions v. Does (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Elliott Alderman with brief comments from Eric [Eric’s introductory note: Elliott Alderman is an IP attorney in Washington DC. I asked if he could guest-blog this opinion after calling it to my attention.] Hard Drive Productions, Inc….
Attempted Trademark Workaround to 47 USC 230 Immunity Fails Badly—Ascentive v. PissedConsumer [Catch-Up Post]
By Eric Goldman [This is one of the top dozen or so most important Internet law opinions of 2011, but unfortunately it came out just as I was going into my exam-grading exile and I had to put blogging it…
Some Thoughts About Google Search Plus Your World (SPYW)
By Eric Goldman [Normally I don’t like to blog about these types of newsy product releases, especially when the facts are still being developed. However, I have spoken with some reporters about Search Plus Your World (see, e.g., this article…
An Update on PhoneDog v. Kravitz, the Employee Twitter Account Case
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] PhoneDog v. Kravitz, No. C 11-03474 MEJ (N.D. Cal.) (Amended Complaint) (Motion to Dismiss) (PhoneDog Opposition) (Kravitz’s Reply) In November, the court allowed PhoneDog’s claims against Kravitz for conversion and trade secrets to proceed. (“Courts Says…
TheDirty Denied 47 USC 230 Immunity–Jones v. Dirty World
By Eric Goldman Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment Recordings, LLC, 2012 WL 70426 (E.D. Ky. Jan. 10, 2012). Prior blog post on this case. A Kentucky federal judge rejected 47 USC 230 immunity for thedirty.com for third-party content. It’s entirely…
Mass Ct: ZIP Code is Personal Identification Info Under Credit Card Statute But Plaintiff Must Still Allege Harm — Tyler v. Michaels Stores
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Tyler v. Michaels Stores, Inc., 2012 WL 32208 (D. Mass.; Jan. 6, 2012) Last year, the California Supreme Court held that a ZIP Code is personal identification information for purposes of a statute which restricted the…