Any reader of this blog, knows about the various suits that have been filed against Google for trademark infringement for selling ads under trademarked terms and also against advertisers who bought ads under either trademarked terms or under keywords of its competitors.
Leave it to a lawyer suing another lawyer to change things up.
Instead of suing its competitor for trademark infringement, a law firm in Wisconsin filed suit last week against another law firm for violating privacy laws.
The lawsuit seeks injunctions and attorney fees, but no damages.
Habush Habush & Rottier Wisconsin’s largest personal injury law firm filed the suit, alledging that another law firm, Cannon & Dunphy, has been advertising under the keywords “Habush” and “Rottier,” and “in effect hijacking the names and reputation of Habush attorneys.”
Cannon acknowledged paying for the keywords but denied wrongdoing, saying it was following a clearly legal business strategy.
Habush based its lawsuit on a Wisconsin right-to-privacy statute that prohibits the use of any living person’s name for advertising purposes without the person’s consent.
“We believe this is deceptive, confusing and misleading,” firm president Robert Habush said of Cannon’s strategy. “If Bill Cannon thinks this is a correct way to do business he needs to have his moral compass taken to the repair shop.”
William Cannon, the founding partner of Cannon & Dunphy, said every business uses the same tactic to remind consumers of their choices.
“This is equally available to Habush if he weren’t so cheap to bid on his own name,” Cannon said.
This is the first case I’m aware of that a suit of this nature has been filed the on grounds of right of privacy.
We will keep you updated on it.
Lawyers suing lawyers, got to love it.
It is interesting to see 2 predatory lawyers feed on themselves.
Personal injury business must be down if they have to sue each other.
It appears Habush is an oldline ambulance chaser and not fully entered the internet world. The dead giveaway, the domain is registered in the name of the web designer. However, they do own between 16 and 22 domains.
I wonder if they were in different states and it was filed in federal court, would a case have merit?
since Goog hasn’t stopped the practice their legal team must feel it can stick in a case.
It does suck though to build your site up to the first spot in results pages only to have your cometition pay a few bucks to be right there with you.