June 2011 Quick Links, Part 1 (Copyright & Trademark Edition)
By Eric Goldman Copyright * Good news: the US government is funding alternative networks that dissidents can use to communicate when the Internet is censored by repressive regimes. Bad news: the US government is teaching the rest of the world…
A Century of Trademark Law: Looking Back and Looking Forward (Notes from my INTA Annual Meeting Talk)
By Eric Goldman At the INTA Annual Meeting in San Francisco in May, I spoke on a panel with Miles Alexander of Kilpatrick Townsend and The Rt Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob, now a professor at University College London. The…
Advertiser Fails in Suit Against Trademark Owner over Google Trademark Complaint–Pandora Jewelers v. Pandora Jewelry
By Eric Goldman Pandora Jewelers 1995, Inc. v. Pandora Jewelry LLC, 2011 WL 2174012 (S.D. Fla. June 2, 2011) The plaintiff is a long-time single-storefront jewelry retailer in Florida (in a strip mall, naturally) with an e-commerce website. Pandora Jewelry,…
Trademark Owner Sues Over Alleged Twittersquatting–Coventry First, LLC v. Does
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Coventry First, LLC v. Does, 11-cv-03700-JS (complaint filed June 7, 2011) The last big tussle over twittersquatting, and infringement through use of a trademark or name in a twitter handle was between Tony La Russa and…
April-May 2011 Quick Links, Part 1 (Trademarks and Advertising Edition)
By Eric Goldman Trademark * Facebook has quite an active trademark docket. – Facebook, Inc. v. Teachbook.com, LLC, 2011 WL 1672464 (N.D.Cal. May 3, 2011). Facebook’s trademark suit against Teachbook was dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction. Facebook promptly refiled…
Keyword Advertising and Domain Name Law Slides
By Eric Goldman Today, I spoke to an audience of Chinese IP judges about keyword advertising and domain names in the United States. I put together some slides and written materials. These materials aren’t especially profound, especially for regular readers,…
Thoughts on the Lawsuit Over the @OMGFacts Twitter Account — Deck v. Spartz, Inc.
[Post by Venkat Balasubramani] Deck v. Spartz, Inc., 2:11-cv-01123-JAM-DAD (E.D. Ca.; Apr. 26, 2011) (Complaint) (Agreement) An Associated Press story reports on the lawsuit over the @OMGFacts Twitter account. (Here’s a link to the story with comments from Professor Goldman.)…
Quityerbitchin: Relative Search Results Placement Doesn’t Support Trademark Injunction–Bitchen Kitchen v. Bitchin’ Kitchen
By Eric Goldman Martha Elizabeth, Inc. v. Scripps Networks Interactive, LLC, 2011 WL 1750711 (W.D. Mich. May 9, 2011) It seems inconceivable to me that people would litigate over the term “Bitchin” almost 30 years after the Valley Girl song…
Ruminations on the Likelihood of Consumer Confusion Standard in Trademark Law
By Eric Goldman Last month, I attended the Third Trademark Scholars’ Roundtable in Bloomington, Indiana. See my prior blog posts about the first and second roundtables. See a photo of the participants. As usual, Rebecca acted as event chronicler. See…
Department of Commerce Releases Worthless Report on Trademark Bullying
By Eric Goldman Trademark Litigation Tactics and Federal Government Services to Protect Trademarks and Prevent Counterfeiting, April 2011. [For background, see my earlier blog post on trademark bullies. The term “bully” appears only 4 times in the report; as FN51…