The FTC Smartly Ends Its Imprudent Google Search Antitrust Investigation (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has ended its nearly two-year-old antitrust investigation of Google’s ($GOOG) search engine practices with minimal consequences to Google. You can see the details from the FTC’s announcement. With any company as…
Section 230 Still Keeping the Pro Se Plaintiffs at Bay–Klayman v. Facebook, and More
By Eric Goldman I’m personally committed to blogging every Section 230 case I see, but I fell off the wagon in the second half of 2012. So what better way to usher out 2012 and ring in the new year…
Yet Another Ruling That Competitive Keyword Ad Lawsuits Are Stupid–Louisiana Pacific v. James Hardie (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Louisiana Pacific Corp. v. James Hardie Building Products, Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 162980 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 14, 2012). The initial complaint. The amended complaint filed after this ruling. It’s been surreal watching plaintiff-side trademark lawyers lament…
Lawsuit Over “Google Tags” Dismissed–Frezza v. Google
By Eric Goldman Frezza v. Google, 2012 WL 5877587 (N.D. Cal. Nov. 20, 2012) In Feb. 2010, Google introduced Google Tags, an advertising option in Google Places. Google Tags is now dead, but Google’s still dealing with the aftermath. To…
Another Google AdWords Advertiser Defeats Trademark Infringement Lawsuit–CollegeSource v. AcademyOne (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman CollegeSource, Inc. v. AcademyOne, Inc., 2012 WL 5269213 (E.D. Pa. October 25, 2012) Over the last dozen years, there have been countless trademark lawsuits over competitive keyword advertising (i.e., when a company buys its competitor’s trademark to display…
Pro Se Discrimination Lawsuit Against Google Fails–Ajuluchuku v. Google
By Eric Goldman Ajuluchuku v. Google, 2012 WL 5464358 (E.D. Cal. November 7, 2012). Her initial complaint. The third amended complaint. It doesn’t bring me joy to blog “in forma pauperis” pro se lawsuits against Internet companies. Sometimes they are…
With Rosetta Stone Settlement, Google Gets Closer to Legitimizing Billions of AdWords Revenue (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman After 3+ years of litigation, Google ($GOOG) and Rosetta Stone ($RST) settled Rosetta Stone’s trademark lawsuit over Google AdWords. The settlement terms are confidential, but a joint statement published in Reuters says that the parties will “meaningfully collaborate…
Google Gets Unwanted Ruling in AdWords Trademark Lawsuit–CYBERsitter v. Google
By Eric Goldman CYBERsitter LLC v. Google, Inc., 2012 WL 5873650 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 24, 2012) This is one of three remaining trademark lawsuits against Google for AdWords. The other two pending suits are Rosetta Stone and Home Decor Center;…
Google Defeats Trademark Challenge to Its AdWords Service–Jurin v. Google (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Jurin v. Google, Inc., 2012 WL 5011007 (E.D. Cal. October 17, 2012). Google ($GOOG) makes billions of dollars a year selling AdWords ads triggered by third party trademarks. Over the past decade, trademark owners have brought about 20…
Newly Released Consumer Survey Indicates that Legal Concerns About Competitive Keyword Advertising Are Overblown (Forbes Cross-Post)
By Eric Goldman Competitive keyword advertising—buying ads triggered by a keyword search for a competitor’s trademarks at venues like Google AdWords, Yahoo and Microsoft’s Bing—has generated enormous legal angst over the past decade, including hundreds of law review articles, occasional…