In a factually similar claim to the current Viacom litigation, Google/YouTube was sued by Italian media company and broadcaster Mediaset, which is owned by Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The company is seeking a minimum of EUR 500 million for copyright violations and hypothetical, lost ad revenue.
American Airlines Drops Google Trademark Lawsuit from Bloomberg reports that the two sides have settled the search ad legal dispute. Each side has agreed to pay their own legal fees and the terms of the settlement were not disclosed. American Airlines sued Google about a year ago over trademark infringement in their AdWords product. In […]
Search ads trigger trademark lawsuit from rival from News.com reports on another search ad trademark lawsuit. This one differs in that the plaintiff is not suing a search engine, but rather suing his competitor. NameSafe sued LifeLock for allegedly allowing one of their resellers to show search ads with NameSafe’s trademarks within the ad copy. […]
Eric Goldman has posted about yet another lawsuit against Google. This time the plaintiffs were allegedly wronged in a case involving mobile subscription services. Google is not the alleged wrongdoer here, but is being sued because it allowed the wrongdoer to advertise (AdWords) and the plaintiffs got to the bad actor via those ads.
I got a chuckle out of this one. It seems that Google sent their cars that do StreetView photography for Google Maps into a private neighborhood in Minnesota. That neighborhood, North Oaks, demanded that Google remove all the images. As the roads are private, Google potentially trespassed to take the pictures. Google’s complied in this […]
In the US marketers may use competitors’ trademarks as keywords, so long as they don’t appear in the ad text itself. Previously Google used a more restrictive policy in the UK, not allowing use of competitors’ trademarks at all. Last month the company changed its UK rules to conform to the more liberal US policy. […]
Yahoo’s generally solid quarter yesterday helps make the case that the company is worth more than the current value of Microsoft’s bid. In advance of the earnings call yesterday, however, Steve Ballmer said that the company was not prepared to offer any more than what it already had put on the table. Now today, in […]
Internet retailer sues Yahoo for $1 million from ComputerWorld reports Bigreds.com has sued Yahoo for over $1 million for click fraud. The online retailer of collectibles claims Yahoo has charged them over $936,000 between 2002 and 2006 for clicks received via Yahoo/Overture affiliates. Bigred is seeking over $1 million in damages and penalties.
Eric Goldman commented on a case between one advertiser using another advertiser’s trademark in Google AdWords. The court has made a decision (PDF), ruling for the plaintiff, Storus, who sued Aroa for using their trademark in the AdWords title text. Eric Goldman said this is one of the first times we have seen the plaintiff […]
Yahoo Sued Again for Assisting the Persecution of Chinese Dissidents from the Epoch Times reports Yahoo is being sued once again for allegedly leaking personal information and aiding the Chinese Communist Party in Internet censorship and the persecution of dissidents. The China Democratic Party, China Social Democratic Party and the New People’s Party filed suit […]
Google And Microsoft Sued For Patent Infringement from MediaPost reports Google and Microsoft were sued for patent infringement over their paid search platforms. A Ohio based company named Paid Search Engine Tools of Liberty Township said Google’s AdWords and Microsoft’s adCenter products infringe on their patent, “Paid search engine bid management.” The full patent can […]
Lawsuit claims Google stole idea for Sky layer in Earth from News.com reports a Google contractor named Jonathan Cobb is suing Google for allegedly stealing a Sky layer idea from him. Sky layers are data in both graphical and textual form that are used in Google Earth. Jonathan Cobb filed suit in an Atlanta federal […]
China couple to sue subway over leaked kiss video from Reuters reports a Chinese couple is suing a Chinese subway operator for uploading a video of the two kissing while on a subway platform to YouTube. The video reportedly drew over 15,000 hits in just two days and has apparently embarrassed the couple tremendously. The […]
Did you know you could get some tasty food from Yahoo? Well, not Yahoo the search company, but Ya-Hoo! the baking company at YahooBakingCo.com. Notice, part of the Ya-Hoo! name is the exclamation point at the end. The main difference between Yahoo! and Ya-Hoo! is the hyphen separating “Ya” and “Hoo.” In the footer of […]
The world of pornography often mirrors the world of “respectable” publishing and content. For years the adult film awards in LA both mocked and aspired to be like the Oscars. Porn producers are also often tech pioneers, the most famous example of which is the adoption of the VCR early on for distribution. And many […]
Miami woman sues missing husband for share of lottery win from the AP reports a husband was keeping a huge secret from his wife. The secret? He won $19 million in the Florida lottery jackpot! Donna Campbell is now suing her husband for half of his winnings, which turned out to be $600,000 after he […]
Yahoo Settles With Chinese Dissidents from the Wall Street Journal reports Yahoo has settled the lawsuit brought to them over the two Chinese dissidents who were jailed illegally due to Yahoo handing over evidence to the Chinese government. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but we do know Yahoo has agreed to pay […]
In what is starting to become the tech equivalent of the OJ Simpson trial, The Hollywood Reporter says that the judge in the Viacom litigation against YouTube/Google has grown frustrated with delays and resistance by both sides to the discovery efforts of one another. Discovery is a pre-trial phase of litigation in which attorneys exchange […]
Eric Goldman reports Judge John McBride has denied Google’s motion to dismiss the American Airlines search ad trademark suit. The court document does not explain why the judge denied Google’s motion. All it says is that he dismissed the motion. Eric Goldman feels that taking this case to court will be a lot of wasted […]
One of the oldest outstanding trademark-infringement lawsuits filed against Google over search ads — that by American Blinds & Wallpaper — has been settled in what I’d agree with legal analyst Eric Goldman in calling a stunning victory for Google. Google has to pay nothing and change nothing to see the case disappear. Eric has […]
Over the years, we’ve seen a number of lawsuits filed against search engines or between companies regarding ads that are linked to trademark terms. Below, a rundown on some of the more notable cases. Before the recap, a little background. To those not familiar with trademark law, the cases can seem like guaranteed victories for […]
Qihoo lawsuit win closes chapter in dispute with China Yahoo from Interfax reports Qihoo has won an unfair competition lawsuit against Yahoo China. Yahoo China has to pay Qihoo $9,210 and post an apology on their home page.
Suit filed against state Google incentives from Triangle Business Journal reports that the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law has filed a lawsuit to challenge the incentives given to Google to build a server farm in North Carolina. The advocacy group claims the incentives violate various laws and provisions in the state’s constitution. Joining the […]
Google appeals Belgian copyright law, talks ongoing from MarketWatch reports that Google is appealing the copyright case they lost in Belgium.
A flurry of recently granted patents is starting to cloud the local search space. After being granted a patent for location-based search, Local.com this morning announced the awarding of another patent for an “ad supported 411 local search model.” Local.com’s stock shot up 52 percent on the announcement.
I’ve got a patent, you’ve got a patent. It seems that nearly everyone running an Internet company has a patent nowadays. Local.com is the latest to announce a patent in the local space. The patent (no. 7,231,405), which I was unable to locate through a USPTO and Google Patents search, “covers local search technology related […]
Jailed Chinese reporter sues Yahoo over his imprisonment from the International Herald Tribune reports Shi Tao, the Chinese reporter who was sentenced to jail allegedly because Yahoo Hong Kong and Yahoo China sent an email to the Chinese government that led to his arrest, has joined a US lawsuit against Yahoo. Yahoo admitted to handing […]
Google’s Eric Schmidt: Viacom’s lawsuit is ‘just a mistake’ from News.com reports that when Walt Mossberg questioned Eric Schmidt about Viacom suing YouTube for $1 billion earlier this, year, Google’s CEO responded that “it was probably just a mistake.” Of course, Mr. Mossberg was not satisfied with that answer. He then probed Mr. Schmidt on […]
The legal issues for Google’s YouTube continue. Here are some select stories over the past few days on YouTube and more legal issues Google has to deal with. NBC lines up against YouTube in copyright case from News.com reports that NBC Universal and Viacom requested in the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to file […]
Google has responded to the copyright infringement case filed against it by Viacom over video content on YouTube. Key takeaway? Google says the DMCA Safe Harbor provisions protect it from liability and wants a jury trial to prove its innocence. Several sources have covered the story already, so I’ll do a round-up of what’s being […]
Chinese couple sues Yahoo for man’s imprisonment from Reuters reports that Wang Xiaoning and his wife Yu Ling have sued Yahoo in the U.S. District Court for Northern California for allegedly helping the Chinese government prosecute Wang Xiaoning. The filing said that Xiaoning was in custody, he was “subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or […]
I’ve always believed that click fraud was a bigger PR problem than actual problem for the search engines. Of course there have been raging debates about the percentage of “invalid clicks” that advertisers were receiving and what the click fraud numbers actually are. But the engines historically took the “black box” position that they were […]
Eric Goldman reports that Google has won the case brought against them by KinderStart over Google downgrading their rankings.
Google wins key ruling in patent dispute from BusinessWeek reports that the patent case against Google over Google Earth has now been closed. Google has won the dispute dating back to 2002, when it was filed by Skyline Software Systems against Keyhole, which Google later acquired and whose software became Google Earth. Skyline held a […]
The NY Times reports that Google, Apple and Napster were all sued by Jonathan T. Taplin’s Intertainer for patent infringement of a 2005 patent. Intertainer’s patent covers commercial distribution of audio and video over the Internet. I believe this is the patent application filed on November 24, 2005, named “Digital entertainment service platform.” Google, Apple […]
Reuters reports Yahoo China has won a lawsuit brought against Qihoo search engine for unfair competition. The lawsuit first came to light back in September. The court found that “Qihoo’s 360safe software prompted users to de-install the Yahoo Toolbar by making users believe the toolbar was malware — software that users download unknowingly and is […]
Steve Bryant reports that the case against Yahoo, brought by JP Enterprises for trademark infringement on the terms lovecity and lovecity.com have been dismissed with prejudice. Back in mid-June, the case was first filed against Yahoo and other companies for bidding on the brand name. Yahoo’s nor JP Enterprises’ attorneys responded to any comments about […]