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…
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…