Google Sued Again for AdWords Trademark Infringement–Home Decor Center v. Google
By Eric Goldman Home Decor Center v. Google, CV12-05706 (C.D. Cal. notice of removal filed July 2, 2012) After the 4th Circuit’s Rosetta Stone v. Google ruling, I wrote: Just like Google got hit with over a dozen lawsuits in…
H1 2012 Quick Links, Part 4 (Search Engines, eBay, Social Networking Sites)
By Eric Goldman [Note: if you click on any of the Scribd links below and get a warning that you’re accessing adult content, ignore that. In only the latest of Scribd’s f-ups, it has deployed a massively overinclusive adult content…
Wisconsin Appeals Court Punts on the Legality of Buying People’s Names for Keyword Advertising–Habush v. Cannon
By Eric Goldman Habush v. Cannon, 2012 WL 2345137 (Wis. App. Ct. June 21, 2012). The case record. My prior blog post on this case. You may recall this case. Habush Habush & Rottier and Cannon & Dunphy are both…
CYBERsitter Sues Google for AdWords Trademark Infringement
By Eric Goldman CYBERsitter LLC v. Google, Inc., CV12-5293 (C.D. Cal. complaint filed June 18, 2012) CYBERsitter competes with Net Nanny and ContentWatch (apparently both owned by the same entity, ContentWatch) in the Internet filtering software niche. CYBERsitter claims ContentWatch…
More Evidence That the Initial Interest Confusion Doctrine is Dying–Dwyer v. Sensocon
By Eric Goldman Dwyer Instruments, Inc. v. Sensocon, Inc., 2012 WL 2049921 (N.D. Ind. June 5, 2012) Earlier this year, I blogged about some research I had done suggesting the declining fortunes of the initial interest confusion doctrine. I anticipated…
Trademark Registrant Isn’t Required to Shut Down Competitive Keyword Advertisers–STK v. Backrack
By Eric Goldman STK LLC v. Backrack, Inc., Cancellation No. 92049332, 2012 WL 2024459 (TTAB May 21, 2012). The TTAB designated this opinion “non-precedential,” which they do with the vast majority of their opinions. Deborah Gerhardt, Leah Chan Grinvald and…
Google Wins Trade Secret Lawsuit Over Ill-Fated Coffee Meeting–Booloon v. Google
By Eric Goldman Booloon, Inc. v. Google, Inc., 2012 WL 1898937 (Cal. App. Ct. May 25, 2012) Qin Zhang is a technology entrepreneur and an attorney (meaning she’s joined the illustrious–and burgeoning–club of lawyers-as-plaintiffs who have sued Google). Zhang claims…
Lawsuit Against Google for Putting Search Queries in Referral URLs Moves Forward – Gaos v. Google
By Venkat Balasubramani with comments from Eric Gaos v. Google, 5:10-CV 4809 (N.D. Cal.; Mar. 29, 2012) Gaos sued Google based on the theory that: (1) Google allows website owners (and third parties) to see what search terms a user…
Jan.-Feb. 2012 Quick Links, Part 5 (Advertising, Consumer Reviews & Search Engines)
By Eric Goldman Advertising and Marketing * CLRB Hanson Industries, LLC v. Weiss & Associates, PC, 2012 WL 20539 (9th Cir. Jan. 5, 2012). Ninth Circuit rejected a challenge to the CLRB Hanson v. Google settlement over AdWords budget caps….
Top Internet Law Developments of 2011
By Eric Goldman As usual, I’m running late with my year-end recap. This post begins with my countdown of the top 5 Internet Law developments of 2011, then it lists other interesting developments and cases. It concludes with some of…