Q3 2009 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Trademark * Venkat: Twitter makes the dictionary. * Federal Circuit says Hotels.com is generic. * Steve Madden sues eBay for trademark infringement. Marty’s coverage. Justia page. I found the fifth cause of action, “trademark delusion,” a surprisingly…
Yahoo’s Search Results Snippets Aren’t False Endorsement–Stayart v. Yahoo
By Eric Goldman Stayart v. Yahoo! Inc., 2009 WL 2840478 (E.D. Wis. Aug. 28, 2009) Earlier this year, I blogged about Beverly Stayart’s quixotic lawsuit against Yahoo and others for showing search results snippets that contained her name adjacent to…
June 2009 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman State Regulation of the Internet * iAWFUL, the Internet Advocates Watchlist for Ugly Laws * Texas HB 2003. Part of the anti-cyber-harassment mania. Very broad statute with lots of room for prosecutorial mischief. * BNA (BNA subscription…
May 2009 Quick Links Part 2
By Eric Goldman Blogs and Boards * WSJ: Bloggers, Beware: What You Write Can Get You Sued * j2 Global Communications v. Zilker Ventures, CV 08-07470 SJO (AJWx) (C.D. Cal. April 22, 2009). A consumer review website can putatively qualify…
Certain Approval Program v. Rip-off Report Update: Misappropriation Claim Dismissed
By Eric Goldman Certain Approval Programs, L.L.C. v. XCentric Ventures L.L.C., CV08-1608-PHX-NVW (D. Ariz. April 13, 2009). Yet another update on Rip-off Report litigation. In March, a ruling in Certain Approval Program v. Xcentric caused a minor stir. The plaintiff…
Boring v. Google Reconsideration Motion Denied
By Eric Goldman Boring v. Google Inc., 2009 WL 931181 (W.D. Pa. April 6, 2009) [I’m not quite sure why so many people are interested in this lawsuit. Maybe it’s because of the oddly (and aptly?) named plaintiffs; or because…
Republishing MySpace Post in Local Paper Might Be Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress–Moreno v. Hanford Sentinel
By Eric Goldman Moreno v. Hanford Sentinel, Inc., 2009 WL 866795 (Cal. App. Ct. April 2, 2009) This is one of the most interesting cases I’ve seen in a while. Moreno was a UC Berkeley undergraduate who grew up in…
Rip-off Report Lawsuit Updates: Certain Approval Programs and Ecommerce Innovations
By Eric Goldman Certain Approval Program v. Xcentric Certain Approval Programs, L.L.C. v. XCentric Ventures L.L.C., 2009 WL 596582 (D. Ariz. March 9, 2009). I previously blogged about this case in November. This ruling is in response to the plaintiff’s…
McGeveran on Facebook Beacon and Social Media Marketing
By Eric Goldman Bill McGeveran, a law professor at University of Minnesota, has posted Disclosure, Endorsement, and Identity in Social Marketing to SSRN. The paper walks through Facebook Beacon and marketers’ other efforts to take advantage of online word of…
Google Street View Case Dismissed–Boring v. Google
By Eric Goldman Boring v. Google, Inc., 2:08-cv-00694-ARH (W.D. Pa. Feb. 17, 2009) You may recall the Boring case from last Spring. A Pennsylvania couple sued because Google’s camera car drove up their private driveway and the resulting pictures were…