Roommates.com Infects the Tenth Circuit–FTC v. Accusearch

By Eric Goldman F.T.C. v. Accusearch Inc., 2009 WL 1846344 (10th Cir. June 29, 2009). My blog post on the district court opinion. Introduction June has been an active month for 230 jurisprudence. Cases this month include Doe IX v….

May 2009 Quick Links Part 1

By Eric Goldman Just a reminder that I’m posting some quick links exclusively to my Twitter account. Trademarks * Texas International Property Associates v. Hoerbiger Holding AG, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40409 (N.D. Tex. May 12, 2009). Domainer loses ACPA…

George Mason Talk and Paper on Economics of Reputational Information

By Eric Goldman Last week I presented a version of my Economics of Reputational Information talk at the Third Annual Conference in the Law and Economics of Innovation series, an event co-sponsored by George Mason Law School and Microsoft. My…

April 2009 Quick Links

By Eric Goldman [Just a reminder that I am posting some “quick links” exclusively to my Twitter account, so if you want to keep up with everything, follow me at Twitter or subscribe to the RSS feed.] Marketing/Spam * Zango…

Catching Up on Three Keyword Advertising Cases–Hearts on Fire, Romeo & Juliette, AAA

By Eric Goldman Three trademark owner v. advertiser rulings from the past month: Hearts on Fire Co. v Blue Nile, Inc., 2009 WL 794482 (D. Mass. March 27, 2009). The Justia page. This is an interesting and potentially very important…

eBay Resales Constitute Trademark Infringement Despite First Sale Doctrine–Beltronics v. Midwest

By Eric Goldman Beltronics USA Inc. v. Midwest Inventory Distribution, No. 07-3340 (10th Cir. April 9, 2009) This is yet another online channel leakage case (for my last visit to this topic, see the Mary Kay v. Weber case). Beltronics…

Q1 2009 Quick Links, Part 4

By Eric Goldman Security * Massachusetts Data Security regulations were amended. * In Facebook v. Power.com, Facebook brought another lawsuit to block extraction of user data from the site (similar to the Facebook v. ConnectU lawsuit). Venkat, Masnick, News.com, NYT,…

Online Resale of Expired Cosmetics May Be Trademark Infringement–Mary Kay v. Weber

By Eric Goldman Mary Kay, Inc. v. Weber, 2009 WL 426470 (N.D. Tex. Feb. 20, 2009). The Justia page. There are a number of Mary Kay meta-sites tracking this and other Mary Kay lawsuits. For more filings and commentary on…

Affiliate Liability Talk Notes from SMX West

By Eric Goldman Last week, I spoke for 10 minutes (actually, I took 12) at SMX West on the topic of advertiser liability for affiliates’ actions. My talk notes: General Principles Issue: when are advertisers liable for their affiliates’ behavior?…

Yahoo’s Sale of Competitive Keyword Ads Isn’t False Designation of Origin–Heartbrand Beef v. Lobel’s

By Eric Goldman Heartbrand Beef, Inc. v. Lobel’s of New York, LLC, 2009 WL 311087 (S.D.Tex. Feb. 5, 2009). The Justia page. Heartbrand sells Akaushi beef, a special and very expensive Japanese variety of beef. Heartbrand brought an enforcement action…