Trademark Law Can’t Stop Competitor’s Employee Recruitment Efforts–XPO v. R+L
Con-way and R+L compete in the freight business. XPO bought Con-way, and the acquisition sparked apparently non-speculative concerns that some Con-way employees would be laid off (which layoffs did indeed ensue, e.g., 1, 2). Before any definitive layoff plans were…
Court Cleans Up Trademark Status of the Phrase “Meth Lab Cleanup”
The holy grail of trademark owners is to obtain enforceable trademark rights for the standard ways people talk to each other. If achieved, the trademark owner can put up a toll gate on ordinary conversation and thwart or even shut…
AdWords Buys Using Geographic Terms Support Personal Jurisdiction–Rilley v. MoneyMutual
This is a personal jurisdiction case, so I’ll get right to the point. If an AdWords advertiser buys keywords that contain geographic terms, the advertiser might face a greater risk of personal jurisdiction in those geographies. It’s likely that buying…
Handicapping the Olympic Committee’s Quest to Control Tweeting (Guest Post)
By guest blogger Prof. Alexandra Jane Roberts [Eric’s intro: the Rio Summer Olympic games may be over, but the legal wranglings from the games will keep going and going–even longer than the bike road race (and perhaps with as many…
Talk on Trends in Online Trademark and Marketing Law
In April, I gave a talk in Israel at an inaugural event to celebrate the life and work of Avron Gabrieli, one of Israel’s most venerable and well-known IP lawyers who died in 2015. Initially, the talk topic was styled…
FTC Sues 1-800 Contacts For Restricting Competitive Keyword Advertising
For over a decade, I’ve blogged about 1-800 Contacts’ campaign to suppress competitive keyword advertising, including its legislative games (e.g., those times when 1-800 Contacts asked the Utah legislature to ban competitive keyword advertising) and at least 15 lawsuits against…
Competitive Keyword Advertising Lawsuit Will Go To A Jury–Edible Arrangements v. Provide Commerce
The parties compete in the “chocolate and fruit-based gift packages” market. Provide bought competitive keywords that used the plaintiff’s trademark, including the keywords “edible arrangements,” “edible arrangements locations,” “edible arrangements coupons,” “edible arrangements promotional code,” “edible arrangements bouquet,” “edible arrangements…
Texas Ethics Opinion Approves Competitive Keyword Ads By Lawyers
The Texas State Bar’s Professional Ethics Committee has issued Ethics Opinion #661 approving lawyers’ use of competitive keyword advertising. The opinion concludes: A lawyer does not violate the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct by simply using the name of…
Q2 2016 Quick Links, Part 1 (Intellectual Property)
Copyright * Skidmore v. Led Zeppelin, No. CV 15-03462-RGK (AGRx) (C.D. Cal. June 23, 2016): Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven isn’t substantially similar to Spirit’s Taurus. The plaintiff’s lawyer explains why it was a loss for both sides. My Q:…
Web Host Defeats Copyright Liability Despite Mishandled Takedown Notice–Hydrenta v. Luchian
The plaintiff produces pornography and distributes it through paid membership sites. The defendants run ad-supported websites that allow users to upload videos, a total of 475,000 user-submitted videos. Moderators screen user submissions to confirm they do not contain “child pornography,…