The European Union highest court, The European Court of Justice, issued an "interim legal opinion" that Google does not infringed on trademark holders rights, by allowing advertisers to buy keywords of registered trademarks. As we told you back in May, Google announced it would allow advertisers to buy the trademark keywords of its competitors. Also In May, Google announced that not … [Read more...]
Indian Marriage Site, BharatMatrimony.com, Gets Injunction Against Google From Selling Trademarked Keywords
Consim.com, an Indian company which owns many Indian dating and matrimony sites, sued Google several weeks ago in India for selling keywords under some of its trademarked sites. Last week, an Indian Court granted an interim (temporary) injunction against Google, restraining Google from selling keywords under the Indian Company's trademarks including Bharatmatrimony.com. The company's suit … [Read more...]
Keyword Suit Skips Google & Goes Forward Against The Advertiser, ABC.com
There are several cases in the where the issue of whether the purchase of keywords under a trademarked term violates the Lanham Act and whether it constitutes unfair competition. Many of these cases have been filed against Google for selling the ad space under trademarked keywords, but in this suit, the trademark holder, skipped suing Google and sued the advertiser, ABC.com In the case of, … [Read more...]
WIPO Decision: Use Of Privacy On Domain Registration = Bad Faith: ShoeZone.com
In a one panel WIPO decision ordering the transfer of the domain, ShoeZone.com to the holder of a UK trademark, the use of Moniker.com privacy service on its registration was found to be an indication of bad faith of the domain holder Basically the owner of the trademark chased the domain for years, first unsuccessfully attempting to buying it from Footstar in 2003, who was using the site to … [Read more...]
A Landing Page That Looks Like A Google Search Results Page: Asking For Trouble?
Typing in some domains, I stumbled across a landing page, that looks like a Google search results page. The parking company, is FirstLook.com, using a Yahoo feed. Not only have I never seen this lander, but I've never heard of FirstLook. According to its site, FirstLook.com: "Is the industry pioneer in domain traffic optimization and monetization. Our long history in this space, … [Read more...]
Can You Be Sued For Defamation For Just Registering A Domain? We Maybe About To Find Out
Defamation, is a tort action where one party can sue the other for damages, when they make false statements about the other, in writing (libel) and spoken words (slander) which damages that person's reputation or causes that person distress. The question is, can a domain name, in and of itself, be defamatory? The question is being asked because this week, TV and radio talk show host Glenn … [Read more...]
KOC.com Lost In UDRP Second Time Around: Non Resolving Page Is “Bad Faith”
The domain Koc.com was awarded in a UDRP, to the holder of a trademark in Turkey which owns Koc.com.tr. As in most of these cases, the facts are long on both sides. Here are the interesting parts of the case; First, the same company that owns the trademark and filed this action, brought a UDRP on this domain already and lost in 2001. Second, the domain holder did not have this page … [Read more...]