“Counterfeits” * Gucci v. Alibaba, Case 1:15-cv-03784-PKC (SDNY Aug. 4, 2016) (cites omitted): Plaintiffs have failed to plausibly allege that the Merchant Defendants engaged in anything but independent conduct, without coordination and for their own economic self-interest. Indeed, the Merchant…
Trademarks * Evoqua Water Technologies LLC v. M.W. Watermark LLC, 2016 WL 4727432 (W.D. Mich. Sept. 12, 2016) Paragraph 1 of the injunction prohibits the use of marks beginning with “J-,” except pursuant to a fair use. Watermark argues that…
Copyright * Goldstein v. Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, Inc., 2016 WL 4257457 (D. Md. Aug. 11, 2016) Unlike in Costar, Goldstein alleges that the Metro Photograph, on its face, contained a watermark indicating that it was copyrighted, which would support…
A venerable and classic Internet Law question: when a consumer uses a trademark as a search term, what are they looking for? If they are seeking the trademark owner–and only the trademark owner–then competitive keyword advertisers may encroach on the…
The City of Petersburg’s police department adopted a social media policy for police officers that included the following restrictions: Negative comments on the internal operations of the Bureau, or specific conduct of supervisors or peers that impacts the public’s perception…
Dunn posted a negative Ripoff Report about Williams. Williams asked Ripoff Report to remove it; he says Ripoff Report agreed to do so and then reneged. Williams sued Dunn for defamation and other claims and sued Ripoff Report for publication…
When Kamala Harris’ office filed pimping charges against three Backpage executives, I wondered: why now? why pimping? After all, in 2013, California AG Kamala Harris signed a letter to Congress saying that Section 230 “prevents State and local law enforcement…
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble At the recent “Law, Borders, and Speech” conference at Stanford, several participants debated the relevance of server location in determining jurisdiction. Some Silicon Valley attorneys at the conference argued that the location of a server should…
Rebecca and I are pleased to announce the publication of the third edition of our casebook, Advertising & Marketing Law: Cases & Materials. It is available for purchase in the following formats: * As a DRM-free PDF file. Price: $11.50…
Since its Accusearch ruling in 2009, the Tenth Circuit has been a dicey place for Section 230 defendants. Fortunately, this case goes smoothly. David Silver is an investment banker in Santa Fe. On Quora, someone asked: “Has anyone worked with…