Jan. 2008 Quick Links (IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman Trademarks and Domain Names * Adidas America, Inc. v. Payless Shoesource, Inc., 2007 WL 4482201 (D. Oregon Dec. 21, 2007). This case (1) discusses whether advice of counsel is a defense against willfulness in the trademark context,…
State of the Net Conference Recap
By Eric Goldman Today I attended the State of the Net conference, sponsored by the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee. This event has become the “go-to” event for Internet policy wonks. Well over 300 people attended, including many well-known folks….
1-800 Contacts Sues LensWorld for Keyword Advertising
By Eric Goldman 1-800 Contacts, Inc. v. LensWorld.com, Inc., 2:08-cv-00015-SA (D. Utah complaint filed Jan. 8, 2008) My my, look who’s decided to go back into court! It’s none other than 1-800 Contacts, the online retailer with a lousy trademark…
December 2007 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Marketing * I’ve blogged about Various, which operates AdultFriendFinder.com, before. They made the news recently in two ways. First, they sold to Penthouse for half-a-billion dollars. Second, they settled with the FTC for “pelting” users with unwanted…
Co-Blogger Identity Isn’t Disclosed via 512(h), but Takedown Letters Are Copyrightable
By Eric Goldman In re Subpoena Issued Pursuant to The Digital Millennium Copyright Action To: 43SB.Com, LLC, 2007 WL 4335441 (D. Id. Dec. 7, 2007) We have long known that the DMCA expedited subpoena procedures for identifying copyright infringers (17…
Oct.-Nov. 2007 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Marketing/Branding * To stimulate demand for its services, the British postal service is pointing out that snail mail is a good way to use olfactory marketing. Try to keep up with THAT, spammers! But doesn’t this give…
Copyright Owner Enjoined from Sending DMCA Takedown Notices–Biosafe-One v. Hawks
By Eric Goldman Biosafe-One, Inc. v. Hawks, 2007 WL 4212411 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 29, 2007) This case involves competitors in the septic system cleaning products business (a topic of apparent personal interest to William Patry). Defendant acted as the plaintiff’s mortgage…
Perfect 10 v. Amazon Opinion Amendment–Ninth Circuit Does 180 on Fair Use Burden for Preliminary Injunction
By Eric Goldman In the Perfect 10 v. Amazon case, the Ninth Circuit has reversed itself on who has the burden of establishing fair use in the context of a preliminary injunction motion. See the revised opinion. In the original…
Taxonomies and Commercial Reputations
By Eric Goldman This coming Saturday, the Information Society Project at Yale Law School is sponsoring a very attractive event entitled “Reputation Economies in Cyberspace.” I’m especially excited about this event because I think my next big project will focus…
Ticketmaster Wins Big Injunction in Hannah Montana Case, But Did the Public Interest Get Screwed?–Ticketmaster v. RMG
By Eric Goldman Ticketmaster L.L.C. v. RMG Technologies, Inc., 2007 WL 2988403 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 16, 2007) You may remember Ticketmaster’s multi-year battle against Tickets.com over data aggregation and deep linking. Ticketmaster never got a solid win in that case,…