Handicapping the Olympic Committee’s Quest to Control Tweeting (Guest Post)
…mark) and TEAM USA. Under the Lanham Act, the federal statute that governs trademark use in the US, anyone who uses a registered mark in commerce “in connection with the…
The Internet Rallies Against A Terrible Section 230 Ruling–Hassell v. Bird
…by Matt Schruers and Ali Sternburg. * Facebook/Microsoft/Twitter Letter. Authored by Mark Flanagan, Patrick Carome and Ari Holtzblatt of Wilmer Hale. * GitHub Letter. Authored by Cathy Gellis. * Glassdoor…
FTC Sues 1-800 Contacts For Restricting Competitive Keyword Advertising
…Does This Mean For Trademark Owners? Trademark owners, PAY ATTENTION. Effectively, the FTC is saying that 1-800 Contacts committed antitrust violations by making overreaching trademark demands. I can’t recall when…
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…
Second Circuit’s Decision in Microsoft v. U.S. (Data Stored in Ireland): Good News for Internet Users? (Guest Blog Post)
by guest blogger Marketa Trimble With the July 14, 2016, decision in Microsoft v. United States (“Microsoft”) by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the question arises…
Q2 2016 Quick Links, Part 1 (Intellectual Property)
…carpet cleaning companies used Google AdWords campaigns with the Plaintiffs’ trademark, the causal connection for recovering corrective advertising is further eroded. This argument misses the mark. As explained in the…
Review Website Gets Hammered In Court–Consumer Cellular v. ConsumerAffairs
…This represents the high-water mark for ConsumerAffairs’ defense. It’s all downhill from here. Per the anti-SLAPP statute, the burden shifts to CCI to show a probability of prevailing on its…
Second Circuit Muddies The Trademark Nominative Use Doctrine–ISC2 v. Security University
…primary trademark doctrine. Still, this case presented itself as a trademark case to the courts, so they address it using the tools of trademark. The Second Circuit reverses the district…
Important and Troubling Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) Ruling From First Circuit–Yershov v. Gannett
…far off the mark, at least as to those who deal with video tracking. Eric’s Comments: I’m open-minded about the accuracy of the court’s determination that unique ID + GPS…
Q1 2016 Quick Links, Part 1 (Trademarks and Domain Names)
…because that domain shared a string of characters with a famous or distinctive mark, even if that mark was unregistered…. the Court takes judicial notice that many other common English…