Google Gets Significant Win in AdWords/Parked Domains Case
By Eric Goldman In re Google AdWords Litigation, 2012 WL 28068 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2012) Google defeated class certification in an AdWords-related case over Google’s placement of ads on parked domains. This almost certainly ends this case in practice,…
Egregious/Overreaching Ex Parte Orders for Rightsowners Keep Coming — Deckers and Richemont
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Deckers v. Liyanghua, 11-cv-07970 (N.D. Ill.; Dec. 15, 2011) (report and recommendation) Deckers proceeds against a slew of domain names in Illinois. The case was originally sealed, but in granting a preliminary…
Trademark Owner Can’t Hold GoDaddy Liable for Domain Name Forwarding — Berhad v. GoDaddy
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Berhad v. GoDaddy, C 09-5939 PJH (N.D. Cal.; Jan. 3, 2012) Plaintiff, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), a government owned entity, owns the Petronas Towers in Malaysia. It’s trying to enforce its trademark rights against two domain…
Nov.-Dec. 2011 Quick Links, Part 2 (Extended IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman Copyright * Costco v. Omega (E.D. Cal. Nov. 9, 2011). On remand after the disappointing non-result from the Supreme Court in this case, the district court gives Costco a decisive win, holding that Omega engaged in copyright…
I’m Not a Fan of this Craptastic Trademark Lawsuit–Fancaster v. Comcast
By Eric Goldman Fancaster, Inc. v. Comcast Corp., 2011 WL 6426292 (D.N.J. Dec. 22, 2011). We’ve seen some pathetic trademark lawsuits this year (SUE MOAR KALE, anyone?), but I’ll nominate this long-running litigation money-sink (going over 3.5 years) as the…
More on Ex Parte Cutoffs of Foreign “Rogue” Domain Names
By Eric Goldman I got the following email regarding our prior three posts on ex parte cutoffs of foreign “rogue” websites in the Chanel, True Religion and Philip Morris cases (I’m republishing the email with permission): __________ All of the…
Does the House Judiciary Committee Debating SOPA Know What’s Going On In the Courts?–Philip Morris v. Jiang
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] Philip Morris USA, Inc. v. Jiang, 11-cv-24049 (S.D. Fla.) (TRO entered on Nov. 16, 2011) (Prelim. Injunction Entered on Dec. 12, 2011) This is yet another case where a court orders broad…
If You Dislike SOPA, You’ll Dislike This Case Too–True Religion v. Xiaokang Lei
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani, with comments from Eric] True Religion v. Xiaokang Lei (S.D.N.Y.) (TRO; Nov. 18, 2011) (Prelim. Injunction; Dec. 2, 2011). The initial complaint. We recently blogged about a case where Chanel obtained surprisingly broad remedies against domain…
Facebook’s Trademark Enforcement Effort Against “Faceporn” Hits Jurisdictional Snag — Facebook v. Pedersen
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Facebook, Inc. v. Pedersen, et al., 10-cv-04673 (N.D. Cal.; Nov. 29, 2011) Facebook sued Pedersen and Retro Invent, who are based in Norway and run the “Faceporn” site. “Faceporn” is a website which features pornographic content…
Court OKs Private Seizure of Domain Names Which Allegedly Sold Counterfeit Goods–Chanel, Inc. v. Does
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Chanel, Inc. v. Does, et al., 11-cv-01508-KJD-PAL (D. Nev.) (Sept. 26, 2011 Order) (Oct. 11, 2011 Order) (Nov. 14, 2011 Order) Luxury brand Chanel has engaged in a fierce campaign against counterfeit websites in federal court…