More Evidence That the Initial Interest Confusion Doctrine is Dying–Dwyer v. Sensocon
By Eric Goldman Dwyer Instruments, Inc. v. Sensocon, Inc., 2012 WL 2049921 (N.D. Ind. June 5, 2012) Earlier this year, I blogged about some research I had done suggesting the declining fortunes of the initial interest confusion doctrine. I anticipated…
University of Alabama Can’t Stop Paintings of Famous Crimson Tide Football Moments–University of Alabama v. New Life Art
By guest blogger Deborah Gerhardt [Eric’s introduction: Deborah Gerhardt is a law professor at University of North Carolina. She is part of the 3G team (including myself and Leah Chan Grinvald) working on the trademark policing article I mentioned last…
Bank Can’t Use Facebook for Service of Process — Fortunato v. Chase Bank
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Fortunato v. Chase Bank USA, N.A., 2012 WL 2086950 (S.D.N.Y.; June 7, 2012) [pdf] Fortunato was an apparent victim of identify theft–her estranged daughter allegedly opened up a Chase credit card in her name and racked…
State Privacy Claims not Preempted by ECPA — Leong v. Carrier IQ
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Leong v. Carrier IQ et al., CV 12-01562 GAF (NRWx) (C.D. Cal.; Apr. 27, 2012) This case addresses the issue of whether claims under state privacy statutes are preempted by ECPA, the federal statute governing the…
Court Orders Facebooking Juror to Disclose Additional Facebook Posts–Juror No. 1 v. Superior Court
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Juror Number One v. Superior Court, C067309 (Ca Ct. App.; May 31, 2012) A California Appeals Court ruled that although a juror’s Facebook posts were covered by the Stored Communications Act, the juror can be compelled…
Trademark Registrant Isn’t Required to Shut Down Competitive Keyword Advertisers–STK v. Backrack
By Eric Goldman STK LLC v. Backrack, Inc., Cancellation No. 92049332, 2012 WL 2024459 (TTAB May 21, 2012). The TTAB designated this opinion “non-precedential,” which they do with the vast majority of their opinions. Deborah Gerhardt, Leah Chan Grinvald and…
Plaintiffs Squeak Past Motion to Dismiss in Amazon P3P Case – Del Vecchio v. Amazon
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric] Del Vecchio v. Amazon.com, 2012 WL 1997697 (W.D. Wash.; June 1, 2012) I previously posted on Del Vecchio v. Amazon, a case that challenged Amazon’s alleged failure to respect the P3P protocol….
Backpage Gets TRO Against Washington Law Attempting to Bypass Section 230–Backpage v. McKenna
By Eric Goldman Backpage.com, LLC v. McKenna, 2:12-cv-00954-RSM (W.D. Wash. June 5, 2012). The complaint. Backpage’s TRO motion. As part of states’ ongoing crusade against online prostitution ads, earlier this year Washington enacted SB 6251, captioned “Regulating advertising of commercial…
Satirical Anti-Birther Blog Post Protected by DC’s Anti-SLAPP Law–Farah v. Esquire
By Eric Goldman Farah v. Esquire Magazine, Inc., 2012 WL 1970897 (D.D.C. June 4, 2012). TPM coverage. Joseph Farah is CEO/editor of WorldNetDaily, and Jerome Corsi is a senior staff reporter there. WorldNetDaily has published hundreds of stories on Birther…
“Hot Topics in Internet Law” Talk Slides
By Eric Goldman This weekend I presented on “Hot Topics in Internet Law” at the San Francisco IP Law Association’s Spring Seminar in Healdsburg. My talk slides. A few photos from the trip. As I’ve mentioned before, I find “hot…