Commercial Referential Trademark Uses (Rescuecom v. Google Amicus Brief Outtakes)

By Eric Goldman Earlier this year, I drafted the following as a proposed contribution to the law professors’ amicus brief in Rescuecom v. Google. We ultimately decided to go in a different direction, but I’m posting the outtakes here for…

Google Sued in Domainer Lawsuit–Vulcan Golf v. Google

By Eric Goldman Vulcan Golf, LLC v. Google, Inc., No. 07CV3371 (N.D. Ill. complaint filed June 15, 2007) [WARNING! the complaint is a 4.3MB PDF] Domainer litigation is heating up, and this lawsuit may be the most ambitious anti-domainer lawsuit…

New Cyberlaw Fad–Real Estate Developers v. Griping Homebuyers

By Eric Goldman We appear to be seeing a mini-trend of homebuilders suing griping homebuyers. Overlawyered’s Walter Olson succinctly aggregated some cases, including: * RSA Enterprises v. Bad Business Bureau and Google, a lawsuit doomed to failure (at least in…

Domain Names Can’t Be Trespassed–Utube.com v. YouTube

By Eric Goldman Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment Corp. v. YouTube, Inc., 2007 WL 1655507 (N.D. Ohio June 4, 2007) Boy, this case got a lot of attention when it was first filed (which isn’t surprising; YouTube lawsuits usually do)….

May 2007 Quick Links

By Eric Goldman Spam * MySpace Inc. v. The Globe.com Inc., No. CV 06-3391 RGK (C.D. Cal. Feb. 27, 2007). This case has some personal interest because theglobe.com was one of my flagship clients before I left the law firm…

Perfect 10 v. CCBill Update: Ninth Circuit Denies En Banc Rehearing

By Eric Goldman The Ninth Circuit has denied an en banc rehearing in Perfect 10 v. CCBill. In doing so, the court amended its opinion to reinforce that it really, really meant that 47 USC 230 preempts all state IP…

Another NY Court Says Keyword Triggering Isn’t TM Use in Commerce–Site Pro-1 v. Better Metal

By Eric Goldman Site Pro-1, Inc. v. Better Metal, LLC, 06-CV-6508 (ILG) (RER) (E.D.N.Y. May 9, 2007) The possible rift between the Second Circuit and other circuits on keyword triggering and trademark use in commerce may be widening. The latest…

Utah Trademark Protection Act Updates (from BNA)

By Eric Goldman As I previously reported, Utah legislators met with industry representatives to discuss the Utah Trademark Protection Act on April 25. BNA [BNA subscription required] provides a fresh update on developments since the April 25 meeting. According to…

Messing with Oscar — Academy Sues Oscarwatch.com

By John Ottaviani Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences v. Stone, No. CV07-02846 RGK CA (C.D. Cal.)(complaint filed May 1, 2007) Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (“AMPAS”), the organization that organizes the Academy Awards,…

Broad Matching Doesn’t Violate Injunction–Rhino Sports v. Sport Court

By Eric Goldman Rhino Sports, Inc. v. Sport Court, Inc., 2007 WL 1302745 (D. Ariz. May 2, 2007) I’ve lamented before that courts don’t seem to understand broad matching (see here and here). Today, I’m changing my tune. Broad matching…