Consumers Don’t Confuse Almond Milk and Cow Milk–Painter v. Blue Diamond
A putative class claimed Blue Diamond “mislabeled its almond beverages as ‘almond milk’ when they should be labeled ‘imitation milk’ because they substitute for and resemble dairy milk but are nutritionally inferior to it.” The lawsuit fails. The court responded…
Your Periodic Reminder That Keyword Ad Lawsuits Are Stupid–Passport Health v. Avance
The parties compete for the provision of health services related to traveling, like immunizations. The defendant Avance bought keyword ads triggered on the plaintiff’s trademark “Passport Health.” In 2013, the trademark owner complained, and Avance apparently dropped the Google ad…
Two Pro Se Section 230 Rulings–Scott v. Carlson & Watkins v. Carr
While we wait for the next big Section 230 ruling (so many cases are on appeal!), today I’m recapping two recent pro se cases. Scott v. Carlson. The complaint alleges that: Carlson created online content to attack Scott; Moon published Carlson-submitted…
If Your Trademark Case Depends on Showing Initial Interest Confusion, Save Your Money–Select Comfort v. John Baxter
I’ve bashed the initial interest confusion doctrine for decades. It’s one of the worst doctrinal “innovations” in trademark law–ever. However, you might have noticed that I haven’t blogged many initial interest confusion cases recently. Why? Because the phrase rarely shows…
Another Section 512(f) Case Fails–ISE v. Longarzo
This ruling doesn’t break a lot of new doctrinal ground. Another 512(f) case fails–nothing new. I’m blogging mostly for completeness and as a follow up to my May post remarking that a 512(f) case survived a motion to dismiss. At…
Fair Use for “Meme” Can’t Be Decided on Motion to Dismiss—Philpot v. Alternet Media (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Stacey Lantagne Memes implicate many legal issues, one of the major ones being copyright infringement and fair use. The copyright dispute here revolves around a photograph of Willie Nelson taken by the plaintiff, Philpot, and posted to…
Eighth Lawsuit Against Social Media Providers for “Materially Supporting Terrorists” Fails–Copeland v. Twitter
This is another 1-800 LAW FIRM lawsuit against social media providers for allegedly materially supporting terrorists. Like the others, it fails. In light of the Ninth Circuit’s Fields opinion, dismissing a similar suit on proximate cause grounds, this opinion doesn’t…
The EU Anti-Geoblocking Regulation Becomes Effective Today (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble On December 3, 2018, the European Union’s Anti-Geoblocking Regulation enters into force. Its effects should be confined to the European Union’s internal market, yet the Regulation will also affect U.S. businesses serving customers in the European…
Everything You Wanted to Know About Emojis and the Law
For the past couple of years, I have invested significantly in all things emojis. This post rounds up everything I’ve done during that period. 1) Emojis and the Law Article I’m pleased to announce the final version of my paper,…
512(h) Doesn’t Preempt Doe Unmasking Lawsuits–Strike 3 v. Doe
This is my second Strike 3 blog post this week. I imagine this won’t be the last. In this case, a Doe defendant sought to quash the unmasking subpoena submitted to his/her IAP. The defendant argued that the unmasking subpoena was…