Another Failed Trademark Suit Over Competitive Keyword Advertising–JIVE v. Wine Racks America
The parties compete in the wine rack/wine cellar business. The defendant bought the plaintiff’s trademarks for keyword ads. The plaintiff alleges this creates initial interest confusion. The 10th Circuit’s Lens.com ruling governs this case. The court says that case makes this an easy defense win:
A consumer using the search term Vino Grotto is unlikely to be confused by the appearance of an advertisement for Defendants. As is demonstrated by Exhibit Q to the Motion, a consumer will be able to easily distinguish between the advertisement placed by Defendants and Plaintiff’s actual website. The advertisement is clearly marked as an ad, while Plaintiff’s website is identified directly below the advertisement. Thus, while certain likelihood of confusion factors would appear to support Plaintiff’s argument, its claim suffers from the same deficiencies identified by the court in 1-800 Contacts
The court also notes that the plaintiff didn’t show any evidence of actual consumer confusion. “As a result, Plaintiff has failed to show a likelihood of success on its trademark infringement claim as it relates to Defendants’ use of Plaintiff’s marks in its advertising.” The court denied the preliminary injunction.
Case citation: JIVE Commerce, LLC v. Wine Racks America, Inc., 2018 WL 3873675 (D. Utah Aug. 15, 2018)
More Posts About Keyword Advertising
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* The Florida Bar and Competitive Keyword Advertising: A Tragicomedy (in 3 Parts)
* Another Court Says Competitive Keyword Advertising Doesn’t Cause Confusion
* Competitive Keyword Advertising Doesn’t Show Bad Intent–ONEpul v. BagSpot
* Brief Roundup of Three Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Developments
* Interesting Tidbits From FTC’s Antitrust Win Against 1-800 Contacts’ Keyword Ad Restrictions
* 1-800 Contacts Charges Higher Prices Than Its Online Competitors, But They Are OK With That–FTC v. 1-800 Contacts
* FTC Explains Why It Thinks 1-800 Contacts’ Keyword Ad Settlements Were Anti-Competitive–FTC v. 1-800 Contacts
* Amazon Defeats Lawsuit Over Its Keyword Ad Purchases–Lasoff v. Amazon
* More Evidence Why Keyword Advertising Litigation Is Waning
* Court Dumps Crappy Trademark & Keyword Ad Case–ONEPul v. BagSpot
* AdWords Buys Using Geographic Terms Support Personal Jurisdiction–Rilley v. MoneyMutual
* FTC Sues 1-800 Contacts For Restricting Competitive Keyword Advertising
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* Google And Yahoo Defeat Last Remaining Lawsuit Over Competitive Keyword Advertising
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* More Defendants Win Keyword Advertising Lawsuits
* Another Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Fails Badly
* Duplicitous Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuits–Fareportal v. LBF (& Vice-Versa)
* Trademark Owners Just Can’t Win Keyword Advertising Cases–EarthCam v. OxBlue
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* Florida Allows Competitive Keyword Advertising By Lawyers
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* Another Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Fails–Allied Interstate v. Kimmel & Silverman
* More Evidence That Competitive Keyword Advertising Benefits Trademark Owners
* Suing Over Keyword Advertising Is A Bad Business Decision For Trademark Owners
* Florida Proposes to Ban Competitive Keyword Advertising by Lawyers
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* Google Defeats Trademark Challenge to Its AdWords Service
* Newly Released Consumer Survey Indicates that Legal Concerns About Competitive Keyword Advertising Are Overblown