State of the Net West Recap

By Eric Goldman Yesterday, the High Tech Law Institute and the Advisory Committee to the Congressional Internet Caucus co-sponsored the Third Annual State of the Net West event at Santa Clara University. The featured participants were 3 members of Congress…

Wikipedia and Rules Proliferation

By Eric Goldman I have previously mentioned how rule sets tend to expand over time. We’ve seen this with legislation; for example, consider how the Copyright Act has grown over time. Personally, I’ve seen code expansion over and over again…

Google Goes on Offensive in AdWords Trademark Lawsuit–Google v. John Beck Amazing Profits

By Eric Goldman Google, Inc v. John Beck Amazing Profits, LLC, C09 03459 (N.D. Cal. complaint filed July 27, 2009). [Warning: 1.4MB file] The Justia page. A couple of interesting developments in John Beck Amazing Profits v. Google, the putative…

Google Not Liable for False Ads–Goddard v. Google

By Eric Goldman Goddard v. Google, Inc., 5:08-cv-02738-JF (N.D. Cal. July 30, 2009) I previously blogged on this case in December 2008. The case involves AdWords advertisements for allegedly fraudulent mobile subscription services. In an underappreciated opinion, Judge Fogel wrote…

Google Down to 7 AdWords Lawsuits–Ascentive v. Google Voluntarily Dismissed

By Eric Goldman Ascentive v. Google, Inc., 2:09-cv-02871 (E.D. Pa. voluntary dismissal July 30, 2009) The litigation count on Google’s keyword ad lawsuits has started trending downward. For the second time in a week, a plaintiff has voluntarily dismissed its…

Microsoft-Yahoo Alliance Comments

By Eric Goldman Some comments on the proposed search alliance between Microsoft and Yahoo: * I remember a time, long ago back in the mid-1990s, when Yahoo was the unquestioned leader in search. * The beginning of the end is…

Biosafe-One v. Hawks Dismissed

By Eric Goldman Biosafe-One, Inc. v. Hawks, 2009 WL 2170150 (S.D.N.Y. July 25, 2009) I previously blogged about this case in 2007. The parties are competitors in the septic system cleaning products business. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant ripped…

Griping Blogger Gets Fair Use and Anti-SLAPP Win–Sedgwick v. Delsman

By Eric Goldman Sedgwick Claims Management Services, Inc. v. Delsman, 2009 WL 2157573 (N.D. Cal. July 17, 2009). The Justia page. Delsman had a big issue with Sedgwick. The details of his gripes aren’t all that important. To make his…

Google Down to 8 AdWords Lawsuits–Jurin v. Google Voluntarily Dismissed

By Eric Goldman Jurin v. Google, Inc., 2:09-cv-03934-GHK-E (C.D. Cal. voluntarily dismissed July 23, 2009) Google’s AdWords litigation docket has reversed direction, at least temporarily, as Jurin has voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit against Google. This dismissal came shortly after Jurin…

Ripoff Report Hires New General Counsel

By Eric Goldman I don’t normally blog on personnel matters, but news about the Ripoff Report is a perennial favorite of blog readers. So I’m sharing the news that David S. Gingras has taken the mantle as the General Counsel…