Rosetta Stone v. Google Appellate Briefs: Google’s Opening Brief and Rosetta Stone’s Unredacted Brief

By Eric Goldman Due to the intervention of Public Citizen, Rosetta Stone filed an unredacted brief in its appeal of Rosetta Stone v. Google. The actual redacted material seemed hardly worthy of confidentiality; in some cases, the information already was…

Seventh Circuit Tosses Beverly Stayart’s False Endorsement Claims–Stayart v. Yahoo

By Eric Goldman Stayart v. Yahoo! Inc., 2010 WL 3785147 (7th Cir. Sept. 30, 2010). I have previously blogged about Beverly Stayart’s lawsuits against Yahoo and Google for apparently sploggy (and possibly cloaked) objectionable search results delivered when she searched…

Google Gets Good Results in Three AdWords Trademark Cases (Jurin, Flowbee, Dazzlesmile)

By Eric Goldman Jurin v. Google, 2010 WL 3521955 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 8, 2010) Jurin is one of the multitudinous trademark owners objecting to Google’s AdWords program. Echoing a prior ruling, the court has rejected Jurin’s claims for false designation…

Portalization of Google, Redux

By Eric Goldman A small point excerpted from my forthcoming essay on search engine bias, but one worth sharing. Google maintains a page entitled “Our Philosophy: Ten Things We Know to Be True.” On June 3, 2004 (per archive.org), the…

July-August 2010 Quick Links, Part 2

By Eric Goldman IP * As expected, Rosetta Stone appealed its trademark loss against Google. My previous blog post. * Reality Blurred successfully counternoticed to overcome CBS’s DMCA takedown notice for the Survivor contract/rule book. * Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v….

Texas AG Investigating Google Search, and I Have Questions. The Biggest: Are You Kidding Me???

By Eric Goldman Late on Friday afternoon before a three-day holiday weekend, Search Engine Land breaks the news that Greg Abbott, the Texas attorney general, is investigating Google’s search practices. Due to this timing, the news reports have been chaotic…

47 USC 230 Preempts Sponsorship/Endorsement Liability–Black v. Google

By Eric Goldman Black v. Google, Inc., 2010 WL 3222147 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 13, 2010). The complaint. The Blacks run a roofing company. They claim someone posted an anonymous defamatory comment on an unspecified Google website, and this “comment misrepresents…

The Problems With Google House Ads

By Eric Goldman [Note: This blog post has taken me 7 months to write, so I’m glad to be sharing it finally. I am cross-posting it to Search Engine Land.] Introduction Many publishers run “house ads” to self-promote their own…

Creation of False Blog and LinkedIn Account Targeting Utah Resident Supports Personal Jurisdiction in Utah — Buckles v. Brides Club, Inc.

[Post by Venkat] Buckles v. Brides Club, Inc., Case No. 2:08-cv-00849 CW (D.Utah; Aug 11, 2010) A federal district court in Utah recently concluded that several individuals who were allegedly involved in the creation of a false blog and LinkedIn…

Google Liberalizes Its European Trademark Policy

By Eric Goldman After the ECJ’s favorable opinion in the Google cases, I’ve been wondering if Google would liberalize its trademark policy in Europe. It took Google 4 months to parse the ECJ’s inscrutable opinion and make a call, but…