eBay Cracks Down on Cookie Stuffing–eBay v. Digital Point Solutions
By Eric Goldman eBay, Inc. v. Digital Point Solutions, No. 5:08-cv-04052-PVT (N.D. Cal. complaint filed Aug. 25, 2008) It is exceedingly rare for marketers to sue affiliates who are trying to game their affiliate programs. I’m sure there have been…
SEC Proposes that Companies Should Be Liable for Content Linked from the Company’s Website
By Eric Goldman [Note: I haven’t had a chance to blog the Veoh case–coming soon!] The Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) is proposing an interesting policy with respect to a securities issuer linking to discussions about it. See pages…
7Search Sues McAfee For Red Flagging It
By Eric Goldman 7Search.com v. McAfee, Inc., 1:2008cv04831 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed Aug. 25, 2008). The Justia page. I don’t have a good sense of how many lawsuits have been filed against anti-spyware vendors for classifying third party software as…
Competitive Pop-up Ads Aren’t Unfair Competition or Tortious Interference–Overstock v. SmartBargains
By Eric Goldman Overstock.com, Inc. v. SmartBargains, Inc., 2008 UT 55 (Utah Sup. Ct. Aug. 19, 2008) In light of the death of adware and the fact that almost all of us have moved on, it is jarring to see…
Affiliate Liability Extravaganza
By Eric Goldman [Note: I recently published a version of this article at InformIT. Here’s the pre-edited version I sent them.] Introduction This article discusses marketers’ liability for the actions of their marketing affiliates (what I refer to as “affiliate…
July 2008 Quick Links, Part II (Non-IP Edition)
By Eric Goldman Search Engines * Google explains all of the ways that it reinterprets the actual search query provided by a consumer to deliver results for words the searcher didn’t use. As I’ve said before, Google’s intermediation makes it…
“But United is a major provider of Airline Tickets”
By Eric Goldman I got the following postcard solicitation in the mail yesterday: (Click on it to see a larger size). There are a number of goofy things about this postcard, including the language that I am “now ON RECORD”…
Relevancy Trumps Creepiness, and Some Thoughts About Behavioral Targeting
By Eric Goldman On Monday I spoke on a panel at OMMA Behavioral. See the MediaPost recaps (1, 2, 3, 4). The crowd was buzzing about Dave Morgan’s earlier remarks (which I didn’t hear) that behavioral targeting is “creepy,” and…
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…
Consumer Complaint Site Defeats Lawsuit By Unhappy Vendor–Nemet v. ConsumerAffairs.com
By Eric Goldman [Note: I’m back from my vacation. For a short recap of my experience, see my FAQs about my trip to the Hulahula River in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.] Nemet Chevrolet Ltd. v. ConsumerAffairs.com, Inc., 2008 WL…