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….
Think Keyword Metatags Are Dead? They Are (Except in Court)–Reflex v. Luxy
Check your calendar. Yes, it’s 2021. But trademark plaintiffs and judges are still partying like it’s 1999. The plaintiff is Seeking Arrangements, one of my favorite websites to base my Internet Law exams on. The defendant is a competitor, Luxy….
Fifth Circuit Says Keyword Ads Could Contribute to Initial Interest Confusion (UGH)–Adler v. McNeil
Jim Adler runs a personal injury law firm that claims trademarks in JIM ADLER, THE HAMMER, TEXAS HAMMER, and EL MARTILLO TEJANO. The defendants run the Accident Injury Legal Center, which runs a lawyer referral service. It bids on the…
Google’s Search Disambiguation Doesn’t Create Initial Interest Confusion–Aliign v. lululemon
Aliign “is an event, lifestyle, and apparel company” allegedly with a first trademark use in 2011. Since 2014, they have sold a total of 7 units of apparel (5 of which were bought by the CEO’s friends). lululemon is the…
Conservative’s Lawsuit Over Google Deindexing Fails–DJ Lincoln v. Google
This is yet another #MAGA lawsuit. The plaintiff claimed that Google deindexed conservatives in a biased way. This particular plaintiff chose perhaps the least likely path to advance that claim, emphasizing RICO claims. As we all know, it’s never civil…
1H 2021 Quick Links, Part 1 (IP)
Trademarks and Domain Names * Kid Car NY, LLC v. Kidmoto Techs. LLC, 2021 WL 466975 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 9, 2021): “At the motion to dismiss stage, Kidmoto has plausibly alleged more than just the purchase of a competitor’s mark as…
Ohio Bans Competitive Keyword Advertising by Lawyers
No one: Absolutely no one: Ohio Board of Professional Conduct (in the third decade of the 21st century….): * * * I guess we’re doing this again. It’s 2021, long past the time consumers have come to understand competitive keyword…
Florida Hits a New Censorial Low in Internet Regulation (Comments on SB 7072)
This blog post reviews Florida’s Transparency in Technology Act, SB 7072. Like other recent efforts to censor the Internet (such as Trump’s anti-230 EO), this law is performative garbage. It was never a serious attempt at crafting good policy. Florida…