American Airlines Sues Yahoo for Selling Keyword Advertising
By Eric Goldman American Airlines, Inc. v. Yahoo! Inc., 4:2008cv00626 (N.D. Tex. complaint filed Oct. 17, 2008). The Justia page. Here’s a lawsuit I never expected. Fresh off their settlement with Google, American Airlines is suing Yahoo for selling keyword…
Search Engine “Cache” Function Covered by Implied License–Parker v. Yahoo
By Eric Goldman Parker v. Yahoo, Inc., 2008 WL 4410095 (E.D. Pa. Sept. 25, 2008). Gordon Roy Parker is a serial pro se Internet law plaintiff and putative owner of copyrights in seemingly misogynistic works such as “Outfoxing the Foxes”…
September 2008 Quick Links, Part 3
By Eric Goldman eBay * Universal Grading Service v. eBay, Inc. More fallout from the National Numismatic v. eBay case–another lawsuit alleging antitrust and defamation because eBay designated some coin rating services as preferred and impliedly devalued others. * Windsor…
Delayed Enforcement Blocks Domain Name Lawsuit–Southern Grouts v. 3M
By Eric Goldman Southern Grouts & Mortars, Inc. v. 3M Co., 2008 WL 4346798 (S.D. Fla. Sept. 17, 2008) I’m often baffled by lawsuits over domain names and keywords because they just don’t seem to make any economic sense. This…
DMV.org Hit With SEO-Degrading Injunction–TrafficSchool.com v. eDriver
By Eric Goldman TrafficSchool.com, Inc. v. eDriver, Inc., 2008 WL 4000805 (C.D. Cal. June 4, 2008). Permanent injunction entered Aug. 28, 2008. [Note: I missed this case when it first came out. I recently learned about the case from Rebecca,…
August 2008 Quick Links, Part 2
By Eric Goldman Net Neutrality * The FCC gets on Comcast’s case for deceptively blocking BitTorrent connections without disclosure. While I don’t know anyone who has defended Comcast’s behavior here, at the same time there is an undercurrent of concern…
August 2008 Quick Links, Part 1
By Eric Goldman eBay * Mazur v. eBay Inc., 2008 WL 2951351 (N.D. Cal. July 25, 2008). See my previous blog post on the case. Some commentators are excited about this ruling because it rejects eBay’s motion to dismiss a…
426,487 Reasons Why Metatags Still Matter (In Court)–Venture Tape v. McGills
By Eric Goldman Venture Tape Corp. v. McGills Glass Warehouse, 2008 WL 3959997 (1st Cir. Aug. 28, 2008). For more on the case, see the initial 2003 ruling denying a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and a 2006…
Court Slams Competitive Metatagging and Keyword Advertising–Soilworks v. Midwest Industrial Supply
By Eric Goldman Soilworks, LLC v. Midwest Indus. Supply, Inc., 2008 WL 3286975 (D. Ariz. Aug. 7, 2008) All too frequently, we get an opinion where the judge clearly didn’t grasp current implementations of keyword advertising and metatagging. Often, it’s…
Minnesota Court Says Keyword Advertising is TM Use in Commerce–Hysitron v. MTS
By Eric Goldman Hysitron Inc. v. MTS Systems Corp., 2008 WL 3161969 (D. Minn. Aug. 1, 2008) In a brief and pedestrian opinion, another court outside the Second Circuit said that buying a trademarked keyword is “use in commerce” under…