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Fourth Circuit Resurrects Rosetta Stone’s Challenge to Google’s AdWords Program

By Geri Haight on Posted in Dilution, Google Adwords, Litigation, Trademark Infringement

On Monday, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court’s decision ending Rosetta Stone’s trademark infringement case against Google.  Rosetta Stone’s complaint, filed in 2009, alleged that Google infringed Rosetta Stone’s trademark rights by selling its trademarks as keywords to third-party competitors without Rosetta Stone’s permission.  Under Google’s AdWords program, Google offers advertisers the ability… Continue Reading

Viacom Lives to Fight Another Day in YouTube DMCA Suit

By Joseph DiCioccio on Posted in Copyright, Copyright Infringement, Digital Millenium Copyright Act, Litigation, Red Flag Knowledge, Safe Harbor, Willful Blindness

Written By Joseph M. DiCioccio The Second Circuit has vacated District Court (S.D.N.Y.) Judge Louis L. Stanton’s June 2010 dismissal of Viacom’s $1 billion copyright infringement suit against YouTube.  In a thorough opinion, the Second Circuit remanded the case to the district court for further consideration of several key aspects of the case, including whether executives… Continue Reading

Who Owns a Company’s Twitter Account (and Musings on Social Media and Trademarks)?

By Geri Haight on Posted in Litigation, Social Media, Trademark

Our colleagues at Mintz Levin’s Employment Matters blog recently posted an interesting piece about a dispute regarding ownership of a Twitter account.  The dispute arose from an employer/employee relationship, but serves as an important reminder about protecting your brand on social media sites. As alleged in the complaint (PhoneDog LLC v. Kravitz), PhoneDog operates a website that offers cellphone news and reviews and it hired… Continue Reading

Yahoo! Wins $610 Million Trademark Infringement and CAN-SPAM Award Over Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud Suit

By Joseph DiCioccio on Posted in Litigation, Trademark, Trademark Infringement

 Written by Joseph M. DiCioccio This week, Yahoo! won a $610 million default judgment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in a case involving the infamous Nigerian Advance Fee Fraud perpetrated through the Defendants’ infringing use of Yahoo!’s trademarks and spam.  Online scams and hoaxes are just a fact of life in the Internet… Continue Reading

Righthaven Loses Another Battle Over Attorney’s Fees

By Joseph DiCioccio on Posted in 17 USC sec. 505, Attorney's Fees, Copyright Infringement, Litigation

Written By Joseph DiCioccio Righthaven, LLC is having a bad week.  You’ll remember from our previous advisorythat Righthaven is a copyright holding company that, until recently, has filed hundreds of copyright infringement lawsuits.  The lawsuits generally allege copyright infringement against websites that have posted all or portions of newspaper articles and photographs Righthaven claimed it… Continue Reading

17 U.S.C. Sec. 505 Means What It Says: Attorney’s Fees Award to Prevailing Party Discretionary

By Geri Haight on Posted in 17 USC sec. 505, Attorney's Fees, Copyright Infringement, Damages, Litigation

Section 505 of the Copyright Act provides that, in a copyright infringement action, the court may “in its discretion” award costs to a prevailing party.  In addition, the provision provides that the court ”may” award a prevailing party its reasonable attorney’s fees as part of the award of costs.  Despite this language, many litigants have taken the position that… Continue Reading

Google AdWords Litigation Update – Trademark Holders Denied Class Certification in U.S. Lawsuits

By Jamison Arterton on Posted in Google Adwords, Litigation, Remedies, Trademark, Trademark Infringement

Written by Jamison Arterton In the latest Google AdWords decision, a U.S. Federal District Court judge in Texas refused to certify two classes of advertisers who filed separate infringement suits against Google Inc.  The complaints, filed in 2009, each claim that Google sold search terms that included registered trademarks to advertisers who were not affiliated… Continue Reading

Google Adwords Decision in Europe: Trademark Owners May Prevent Competitors From Using Trademarks As Keywords

By Geri Haight on Posted in Google Adwords, Litigation, Trademark, Trademark Infringement

Written by Geri Haight Remember last year when the European Union’s Court of Justice ruled that Google did not violate European Union law by selling trademarks as keywords and thereby permitting advertisers to purchase and use keywords corresponding to their competitor’s trademarks in Google ads?  The decision let Google, as an intermediary, off the hook for trademark… Continue Reading

Remedies for Cybersquatting: Comparison of the UDRP and ACPA

By Geri Haight on Posted in Anticybersquatting, Domain Name, Litigation, Remedies, Trademark Infringement, Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy

Written by Jamison Arterton Last month, the kitchen and bath giant, Kohler Co., filed an anti-cybersquatting suit in federal court in California against several cybersquatters.  In its complaint, Kohler alleges that it previously paid the named defendants $500 to transfer a domain name incorporating the KOHLER trademark in exchange for their agreement that they would not register any… Continue Reading