December 2006 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman * JP Enterprises, Inc. v. HDVE, LLC, 1:06-cv-01046-REB-PAC (D. Colo.). In June 2006, JP Enterprises sued Yahoo for selling its trademarks for keyword-triggered ads. In December, JP Enterprises and Yahoo stipulated a dismissal of the case against…
Google Wins Publisher’s Lawsuit over AdSense Termination–Bradley v. Google
By Eric Goldman Bradley v. Google, Inc., 2006 WL 3798134 (N.D. Cal. Dec. 22, 2006) I’m struggling with developing a policy regarding blogging about pro se lawsuits (i.e., lawsuits brought without a lawyer) against major companies like Google. On the…
Wikipedia Will Fail in Four Years
By Eric Goldman [UPDATE: I put together a more formal assessment of Wikipedia’s challenges in my 2010 article, Wikipedia’s Labor Squeeze and its Consequences.] About a year ago, I predicted that Wikipedia will fail in 5 years. My logic: *…
“Junk Mail is Alive and Growing”
By Eric Goldman Many people thought the era of cheap electronic communications would spell doom for junk mail because of the cost advantages of printing and distributing electronic solicitations over dead trees solicitations. But instead, over the past year, marketers…
Nov. 2006 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman My monthly roundup of noteworthy tidbits: * Yesmail, an email outsource vendor, was busted by the FTC under CAN-SPAM for failing to honor opt-out requests because Yesmail’s incoming email filters blocked those opt-out requests as spam. This…
One Judge’s Derisive View of Junk Faxes as Conversion
By Eric Goldman Rossario’s Fine Jewelry, Inc. v. Paddock Publications, Inc., 443 F. Supp. 2d 976 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 17, 2006). I’ve blogged before on courts’ rejection of a common law conversion claim based on the receipt of junk faxes….
Article on Regulating Marketing–A Coasean Analysis of Marketing
By Eric Goldman Eric Goldman, A Coasean Analysis of Marketing, 2006 Wis. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming). In 2001, I had a career-altering epiphany while I was working at Epinions (this is the topic that prompted me to consider becoming a…
Sept. 2006 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Some stories that caught my eye in September: * Digg users are gaming the Digg algorithm. Greg Linden’s take. Naturally, Digg is fighting back by tweaking its algorithm to reduce the effect of gaming and preserve some…
August 2006 Quick Links (Volume 1)
By Eric Goldman So many good links this month, I’m breaking up this quick links post into two installments. The first installment: * When Internet start-ups want to hire their first lawyer, they typically have three immediate legal needs—they want…
Amazon’s Display of Book Cover Doesn’t Violate Publicity Rights—Almeida v. Amazon.com
By Eric Goldman Almeida v. Amazon.com, Inc., 2006 U.S. APP. LEXIS 17989 (11th Cir. July 18, 2006) Introduction Product photos on e-commerce websites’ product pages are a notorious liability trap. During my tenure at Epinions, product page photos were the…