Google Crushes Home Decor Center’s Trademark Challenge to AdWords
By Eric Goldman Home Decor Center, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 2:12-cv-05706-GW-SH (C.D. Cal. May 9, 2013) Home Decor Center sued Google in the wake of the Fourth Circuit’s Rosetta Stone ruling. The lawsuit did not go well for it. Recently,…
Suing Like It’s 2009: Parts.com Sues Google and Yahoo for Keyword Advertising
By Eric Goldman Parts.com v. Google, 3:13-cv-01074-JLS-WMC (S.D. Cal. complaint filed May 6, 2013); and Parts.com v. Yahoo, 3:13-cv-01078-AJB-JMA (S.D. Cal. complaint filed May 6, 2013) _____ In the immediate wake of the Second Circuit’s Rescuecom ruling in 2009, about…
Assessing Winners and Losers in Google’s Worldwide Antitrust Battles (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Recently, the European Commission announced details of a proposed antitrust settlement with Google (the full commitments). Google’s competitors now have the opportunity to publicly whine about the deal as part of the “market testing” procedural step. I doubt…
Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Survives Motion to Dismiss–Elcometer v. TCQ-USA
By Eric Goldman Elcometer, Inc. v. TQC-USA, Inc., 2013 WL 1433388 (E.D. Mich. April 9, 2013) There are so many competitive keyword advertising lawsuits that I can’t track them systematically, but I’ll still blog them when I see them. The…
Google Immunized for Its Search Results–Mmubango v. Google (Catch-up Post)
By Eric Goldman Mmubango v. Google, Inc., 2013 WL 664231 (E.D. Pa. February 22, 2013). The initial complaint. This is one of the many bogus pro se lawsuits over Google search results. Like the others, it goes nowhere (though the…
Online Trespass to Chattels Needs Structural Reform (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman In light of Aaron Swartz’s tragic suicide, there has been a lot of discussion–some productive, some not–about reforming the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (the “CFAA”). I support some of the reform proposals, but they don’t go…
More Confirmation That Google Has Won the AdWords Trademark Battles Worldwide (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman I’ve repeatedly asserted that the trademark battles over keyword advertising are near the end. As further evidence of that, recently Google ($GOOG) liberalized its international trademark policy for advertising via AdWords. Previously, Google allowed trademark owners…
Why Google’s Commitment Letter to the FTC Isn’t Commercial Speech (Guest Blog Post)
By Guest Blogger Josh King [Eric’s introduction: Josh King is Vice President, Business Development & General Counsel at Avvo. Among other ways we work together, he’s a fellow board member of Public Participation Project, which is advocating for a federal…
Linkwrap of Google’s Antitrust Deal With the FTC
By Eric Goldman It seems like forever since the FTC settled its antitrust investigation with Google, even though it’s been less than 3 months. My recap post from the initial announcement. We’re waiting for the European denouement, but in the…
It’s Legally Okay if Google Thinks Your Name and Erectile Dysfunction Drugs Have Something to Do With Each Other (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Stayart v. Google Inc., 2013 WL 811793 (7th Cir. March 6, 2013). Would you be upset if people searching for your name are prompted to search for your name plus the name of an erectile dysfunction drug like…