The Florida Bar and Competitive Keyword Advertising: A Tragicomedy (in 3 Parts)
In the late 2000s, keyword advertising was one of Internet Law’s hottest topics. Now, not so much. Relatively few lawsuits are filed; they rarely last long in court; and most trademark owners have moved on. But in the Florida Bar,…
Advertiser’s Suit Against Google Loses for Third (and Final) Time–Abid v. Google
I previously described this case: “Abid markets cancer-curing honey. He bought AdWords to promote his MightyHoney website. Google rejected the ads.” The court has dismissed this pro se lawsuit twice already, each time without prejudice. Prior blog posts from April…
Unlinked Webpage Doesn’t Support Trademark Infringement–Nelson-Ricks v. Lakeview
A now-defunct cheese company owned two brands, “Banquet” and “Nelson Ricks Creamery.” The defendant bought the Banquet brand and associated website, plus it got a limited license to use the Nelson Ricks Creamery brand. The plaintiff bought the Nelson Ricks…
Trolling the Internet for Photos Creates Copyright Headaches for Ad Agency (and the Advertiser)–Laspata v. Rimowa
Laspata is “a boutique creative marketing agency” that charges a lot of money. For its client, Laspata created a 1920s-themed “lookbook” called “Speechless” that riffed on the Academy Award-winning movie The Artist. Rimowa makes luggage priced above my budget. Meire…
Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 5 (Potpourri)
My email inbox has gotten out of control, and I had to declare partial email bankruptcy. In this post, I’m largely quoting highlights from 18 cases I had flagged for closer review or possible posting over the past 18 months…
Indianapolis Police Have Been “Blinded Lately Because They Shut Backpage Down”
In the policy discussions about FOSTA, the #1 question always was: if the law works as the organizers predict, will it actually help the victims of sex trafficking? There has always been good reason to believe the answer is no;…
Ten Reasons Why California’s New Data Protection Law is Unworkable, Burdensome, and Possibly Unconstitutional (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Jeff Kosseff [Jeff Kosseff is an assistant professor of cybersecurity law at the U.S. Naval Academy. The views in this post are only his, and do not represent the Naval Academy, Department of Navy, or Department of…
Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 3 (Privacy, Advertising, E-Commerce)
Privacy * Financial Times: How the wealthy use privacy laws to keep out of the news. GDPR as a pro-censorship tool * Techdirt: Companies Respond to the GDPR By Blocking All EU Users * Financial Times: Data protectionism: the growing menace to global business…
Amazon Again Avoids Liability for Defective Marketplace Item–Fox v. Amazon
This is a product liability lawsuit against Amazon due to a hoverboard purchased via Amazon that caught on fire. Plaintiffs bought the hoverboard from the Amazon site in November 2015 as a Christmas gift for their son. The son used…
Constitutional Challenge Against FOSTA Filed–Woodhull v. US (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Alex F. Levy Pres. Trump signed the “Allow Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA) into law on April 11, 2018. As many critics predicted, the law had an immediate chilling effect on a significant amount…