More on Utah Spyware Law Amendments
I finally had a chance to look at the proposed amendments to the Utah Spyware Control Act. They are much worse than I imagined! The law talks about spyware but instead makes adware illegal in Utah–regardless of how the software…
Pornmeister Liable for Affiliate’s Spam
A settlement involving Sobonito Investments, a Cyprus pornmeister that used an affiliate marketing scheme to generate traffic. The affiliates engaged in bad email practices, and the advertiser was put on the hook. This situation is clearly covered by CAN-SPAM but…
French Lawsuit Involving “Search Engine Optimization” Techniques
I haven’t seen much discussion on the recent French opinion Societe Kaligona v. Societe Dreamnex, French Court of Appeals, Jan. 12, 2005. (I’m working from a BNA report—subscription required). The case involves two competing Internet sex shops. Dreamnex’s site saw…
Coca-Cola v. Purdy Permanent Injunction
The court issued a permanent injunction in the long-running Coca-Cola v. Purdy case. If you’re not familiar with Purdy, he is an anti-abortion activist. He targeted various publishers that he believed were pro-choice, plus a number of other companies that…
“They Don’t Own the Jews”
Does a “Jewish Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” infringe the “trademark” owned by the Cleveland “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”? Given the large number of “Hall of Fames” in the world, one might think there would be better…
Google and Keyword/Domain Name Convergence
Bob Tedeschi speculates about why Google became a registrar. He discusses a number of good reasons but missed perhaps the most obvious. To Google, there’s no difference between selling domain names and selling keywords: both are merely ways for companies…
Amicus Briefs in MGM v. Grokster
If you haven’t checked it out, 28 amici briefs have been filed so far in the MGM v. Grokster case, including three different briefs led by law professors. I find it particularly interesting that Sen. Leahy and Hatch submitted a…
Utah/Urquhart on an Anti-Spyware Crusade Again
Utah is reworking its anti-spyware bill. I need to see the legislation but this news report sounds ominous. It reminds me of the expert report from the LICRA v. Yahoo case, where the experts predicted that we would be bombarded…
Shopbots and Nash Equilibrium
Interesting News.com article by Paul Festa discussing a report by Prof. Michael Baye of Indiana University on why shopbots have not led to homogeneous prices by all retailers. The basic argument: retailer are constantly changing prices to avoid letting competitors…