Catching Up on a FOSTA Case–ML v. Craigslist
This is one of many FOSTA cases in process. They are all quite complicated and hard to understand. This particular lawsuit targets Craigslist even though Craigslist shut down its adult services category in 2010, eight years before FOSTA was enacted,…
Louisiana’s Anti-Vegan Law Constitutionally Enjoined–Tofurky v. Strain
[Note: I’ve been traveling for the past 10 days and have a long list of important developments to blog when I get back.] Numerous states have enacted laws that prohibit the use of meat/dairy terms, such “meat,” “milk,” “cheese,” and…
Court Dismisses Trademark Claims Over Internal Search Results–Las Vegas Skydiving v. Groupon
Las Vegas Skydiving Adventures offers tandem skydiving under the “Fyrosity” brand. It has never offered its services through Groupon. A search for “skydive Fyrosity” at Groupon says “No matching deals. You may also like ….” and produces search results for…
Departing Employees Rename Their Former Employers’ Facebook Account. That May Be a Problem–La Baguette v. Tito & Tita
This is an employer/ex-employee dispute over a Facebook page. As alleged in the complaint, plaintiffs operated a bakery known as “La Baguette,” and hired defendants to manage aspects of the business. Defendants also managed the social media presence of the…
Trademark Registration of Political Messages for Expressive Merchandise–In re Elster (Guest Blog Post)
By guest blogger Lisa Ramsey, Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law Federal Circuit holds refusal to register a political message for T-shirts violates the First Amendment, but fails to acknowledge that these types of registrations can…
So Many Unanswered Empirical Questions About FOSTA
I read an article, “Sex Trafficking and Technology: A Systematic Review of Recruitment and Exploitation,” by Lindsay B. Gezinski & Kwynn M. Gonzalez-Pons (unfortunately paywalled). They did a comprehensive and systematic review to identify empirical studies that bear on online…
Georgia Supreme Court Blesses Google’s Keyword Ad Sales–Edible IP v. Google
Edible Arrangements objected to Google selling its trademark to trigger keyword ads. They filed a trademark lawsuit in 2018 but abandoned the suit when it got sent to arbitration. However, they didn’t give up! The Edible team had the brilliant…
Court Denies Class Certification in Click Fraud Case–Singh v. Google
15 years ago, there was a now-mostly-forgotten battle royale over click fraud in Google AdWords (see links at the post’s bottom). Fun times. Since the resolution of that litigation, click fraud issues have largely faded into the background, flaring up…
Competitive Keyword Advertising Claim Fails–Reflex Media v. Luxy
The plaintiff runs Seeking Arrangements. The defense runs Luxy, a competitor. Earlier this year, I blogged a ruling holding that Seeking Arrangements’ trademark infringement claim against Luxy could proceed because Luxy included Seeking Arrangements’ purported trademarks in its keyword metatags….
New York Court Is the Wrong Venue for UK GDPR Class Action–Finch v. Xandr
Maybe I’ve missed other cases in this genre, but I don’t recall seeing them. Xandr self-describes as “the only open, end-to-end platform for scaled, sophisticated campaigns on premium inventory across screens on premium inventory from CTV to data-driven linear and…