Sept. 2006 Quick Links
By Eric Goldman Some stories that caught my eye in September: * Digg users are gaming the Digg algorithm. Greg Linden’s take. Naturally, Digg is fighting back by tweaking its algorithm to reduce the effect of gaming and preserve some…
Google Wins Keyword Lawsuit–Rescuecom v. Google
By Eric Goldman Rescuecom Corp. v. Google, Inc., No. 5:04-CV-1055 (N.D.N.Y. Sept. 28, 2006). You can find the ruling here (WARNING: 1.7MB file) Introduction and the 1-800 Contacts Precedent Last year, the Second Circuit issued a major ruling in the…
Outdated Metatags Don’t Infringe–Pop Warner v. NH Youth Football & Spirit Conference
By Eric Goldman Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc. v. New Hampshire Youth Football & Spirit Conference, 2006 WL 2591480 (D. N.H. Sept. 11, 2006) Metatag lawsuits befuddle me for two reasons. First, and most importantly, KEYWORD METATAGS ARE IRRELEVANT from…
Internet Law Updates Talk
By Eric Goldman Yesterday I gave a talk called “Internet Law Updates” at an event sponsored by the California State Bar’s IP Section. My slides.
KinderStart Second Amended Complaint
By Eric Goldman KinderStart v. Google, Case 5:06-cv-02057-JF (N.D. Cal. second amended complaint filed Sept 1, 2006) After its last complaint was dismissed in its entirety, not surprisingly KinderStart is trying again with a second amended complaint—a 63 page behemoth….
Do Quotation Marks Matter? Yes (in the Ninth Circuit)–Picture It Sold v. iSOLD It
By Eric Goldman Picture It Sold, Inc. v. iSOLD It, LLC, 2006 WL 2467552 (9th Cir. Aug. 28, 2006) The plaintiff sued iSOLD for trademark infringement based on competitive keyword ad purchases, and it sought an injunction against continued keyword…
August 2006 Quick Links (Volume 2)
By Eric Goldman Some more things that caught my eye in the past month (see Volume 1): * Wikipedia’s entry on trademarks that have become generic. “Google” isn’t listed…yet—instead, it’s listed as a trademark “often used generically”. HT: Marty. My…
Brand Spillovers Talk
By Eric Goldman Yesterday, at the IP Scholars Conference at Boalt, I presented my paper currently titled “Brand Spillovers.” This is the evolution of my project from last year I was calling Trademark Adjacency. I’m still trying to think through…
Jews for Jesus v. Google Lawsuit Settles
By Eric Goldman Jews for Jesus v. Google, Inc., 05-CV-10684 (SDNY voluntary dismissal filed July 26, 2006) You may recall the lawsuit filed by Jews for Jesus against Google in December. The lawsuit involved a BlogSpot user who created a…
Google Click Fraud Settlement Approved
By Eric Goldman The Arkansas judge approved the settlement in the Lane’s Gifts and Collectibles v. Google case. Ruling here. Google’s announcement here. For reasons I’ve explained before, this is a Big Win for Google (and, not a bad payday…