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,…
AFP v. Google News Redux–AP v. Moreover
By Eric Goldman Associated Press v. Moreover Technologies, Inc., 07 CIV 8699 (SDNY complaint filed Oct. 9, 2007) I don’t understand Moreover. From their website, they describe themselves as: the premier provider of real-time news, current awareness and business information,…
Pandora Founder Westergren Speaks at SCU
By Eric Goldman I *love* Internet radio. I typically listen to it all day long while I’m pounding out emails, articles and blog posts (like this one). I’ve tried a number of services, including Accuradio, Sky.fm and Last.fm. However, now…
Yet Another NY Court Says Keyword Ads & Metatags Aren’t TM Use in Commerce–S&L Vitamins v. Australian Gold
By Eric Goldman S & L Vitamins, Inc. v. Australian Gold, Inc., 2:05-cv-1217 (E.D.N.Y. Sept. 30, 2007) If it wasn’t so painful for all involved, I would enjoy watching the legal contortions of companies whose outdated business models are being…
September 2007 Quick Links Part I
By Eric Goldman Marketing * From the NYT: There are 200+ auto repair shops in the “Iron Triangle” area in New York, and apparently they compete fiercely with each other, shouting out price quotes as cars needing repairs drive by….
“Making Available” as Copyright Infringement–Capitol v. Thomas
By Ethan Ackerman Capitol v. Thomas has been widely covered (even simul-blogged) as the first RIAA copyright lawsuit against an individual P2P downloader to reach a jury trial. But, to poorly paraphrase Stephen Sondheim, “a funny thing happened on the…