Negative Keywords Help Defeat Preliminary Injunction–DealDash v. ContextLogic
DealDash and Wish are e-commerce vendors. For a while, Wish offered a service called “Deal Dash” for time-limited bargains. Immediately after DealDash sued, Wish renamed its service “Bargain Blitz” and pulled the “DealDash” term from all advertising. DealDash still pressed…
The Florida Bar and Competitive Keyword Advertising: A Tragicomedy (in 3 Parts)
In the late 2000s, keyword advertising was one of Internet Law’s hottest topics. Now, not so much. Relatively few lawsuits are filed; they rarely last long in court; and most trademark owners have moved on. But in the Florida Bar,…
GoDaddy & Instagram Avoid Liability for Users’ Photos of Knockoff Goods–Franklin v. X Gear 101
The plaintiff owns copyright and trademark registrations in a bear logo. He claims a defendant created a similar-looking bear logo and marketed goods using that logo: I’ll focus on the court’s treatment of plaintiffs’ claims against GoDaddy and Instagram….
Unlinked Webpage Doesn’t Support Trademark Infringement–Nelson-Ricks v. Lakeview
A now-defunct cheese company owned two brands, “Banquet” and “Nelson Ricks Creamery.” The defendant bought the Banquet brand and associated website, plus it got a limited license to use the Nelson Ricks Creamery brand. The plaintiff bought the Nelson Ricks…
Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 5 (Potpourri)
My email inbox has gotten out of control, and I had to declare partial email bankruptcy. In this post, I’m largely quoting highlights from 18 cases I had flagged for closer review or possible posting over the past 18 months…
Q2 2018 Quick Links, Part 1 (Trademarks and Other IP)
Trademark * Carter v. Oath Holdings, 17-cv-07086-BLF (N.D. Cal. June 21, 2018) Courts have held that an online provider does not “use” a mark under the meaning of the Lanham Act when its search engine returns a search result based…
Viacom Possesses Trademark Rights in ‘Krusty Krab’ Based on Its Central Role in the SpongeBob Universe–Viacom v. IJR (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Alexandra Jane Roberts In 2014, IJR Capital Investments applied to register THE KRUSTY KRAB as a trademark for restaurant services based on an intent to use the mark in the future. IJR’s Javier Ramos claims the name…
TWiT’s Trademark Lawsuit Against Twitter Sent Back to the Drawing Board
The popular and long-running show “This Week in Tech,” commonly called TWiT, sued Twitter. TWiT provides audio and video content branded under the TWiT trademark. It alleges that Twitter’s offering of video services and content under the TWITTER brand infringes…
The Ninth Circuit STILL Thinks Keyword Metatags Matter in 2018–Adidas v. Skechers
Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit ruled about trademarked stripes on tennis shoes. To me, legally weaponizing dots in three lines on a shoe predictably leads to wasteful and possibly anti-consumer litigation. However, instead of critiquing the opinion generally, I’ll isolate just…
Another Court Says Competitive Keyword Advertising Doesn’t Cause Confusion
This is a lawsuit between two Alzheimer’s-related non-profit organizations, the Alzheimer’s Association (the more established and better-funded group) and the Alzheimer’s Foundation (the relative upstart). I blogged a prior 2015 ruling. The potential for brand collisions in consumers’ minds seems…