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…

2008 Cyberlaw Year-in-Review

By Eric Goldman It’s a sign of my schedule that I’m just now getting to this, and this post will be more pithy than I initially conceived. This post recaps some of the Cyberlaw highlights from last year. Frankly, the…

Online Retailer’s Link to House Brand from Manufacturer’s Product Page Might Infringe–BabyAge v. Leachco

By Eric Goldman BabyAge.com, Inc. v. Leachco, Inc., 2009 WL 82552 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 12, 2009). The Justia page. Welcome to the cutthroat world of pregnancy pillows. Leachco manufactures pregnancy pillows and has a patent on them. BabyAge is an…

Brand Spillovers Article Now Available

By Eric Goldman I have finally posted my article, Brand Spillovers, to SSRN. It will be published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology later this year. I have blogged about this project several times over the past 4…

Cautionary Tale of Website Co-Ownership–Mikhlyn v. Bove

By Eric Goldman Mikhlyn v. Bove, 2008 WL 4610304 (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 15, 2008). The Justia page. In my Co-Blogging Law article, I discussed the potentially ugly legal consequences of “blog divorces” when co-bloggers fall out of love with each other…

September 2008 Quick Links, Part 3

By Eric Goldman eBay * Universal Grading Service v. eBay, Inc. More fallout from the National Numismatic v. eBay case–another lawsuit alleging antitrust and defamation because eBay designated some coin rating services as preferred and impliedly devalued others. * Windsor…

eBay Denied 230(c)(2) Defense Over Counterfeit Coin Policing

By Eric Goldman National Numismatic Certification, LLC. v. eBay, Inc., 2008 WL 2704404 (M.D. Fla. July 8, 2008) This is the fourth time in a week that I’m blogging about an eBay lawsuit (see the Windsor Auctions, Tiffany and StubHub…

eBay Not Bound By Robinson-Patman Act–Windsor Auctions v. eBay

By Eric Goldman Windsor Auctions, Inc. v. eBay, Inc., 2008 WL 2622791 (N.D. Cal. July 1, 2008) The Robinson-Patman Act is a Depression-era law designed to reduce the ability of manufacturers to engage in price discrimination. At the time, large…

June 2008 Quick Links

By Eric Goldman Trademarks/Domain Names * Utah Lighthouse Ministry v. Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research, 2008 WL 22043807 (10th Cir. May 29, 2008). CMLP writeup. Nice 10th Circuit win for a gripe site against trademark infringement and cybersquatting. This…