Because of an extended working vacation away from Houston’s heat in Colorado, I’ve been away from the blog. Like my kids gearing up to go back to school, I’m getting back to the normal work mode back in the office while recovering from a separated shoulder from a mountain biking incident (riding across on overpass in Houston is apparently different than actual mountain biking). As a warm-up, here are a few quick links to interesting stories from the last couple of weeks.
Another Adwords Trademark Dismissal
From Professor Goldman’s Technology and Marketing Law Blog — another unsuccessful keyword advertising lawsuit. The plaintiff was a collection agency and the defendant was a law firm that bid on the plaintiff’s name that triggered the following ad:
a link titled “Stop Collection Calls—Is Allied Interstate Calling You?” Below the link are two lines of text, the first listing Defendants’ URL, www.creditlaw.com, and the second bearing the slogan “Stop the calls for free!”
Under most circumstances, I would advise clients to avoid using the competitor’s name in the ad copy. But, this is one of those easy exceptions. It is clear the law firm is not trying to confuse consumers into thinking the law firm is the same as the collection agency. It is a pretty easy decision, but a good reminder of how trademark law plays into search engine advertising.
An Eraser Button for Minors on Social Media
We previously mentioned an eraser button for minors on social media. It appears the California Legislature is also back from vacation which, according to Edwards Wildman’s Digilaw Blog, means the law may be a reality soon.
Hi-Jacked Sites
One of the most difficult things to do is help clients deal with IP theft from pirates outside of the U.S. Seyfarth Shaw’s Trade Secret Blog provides some tips on how to deal with these issues–assuming you have enough clout to get your state attorney general involved.
Don’t let your independent contractor use your email.
Evan Brown’s Internet Cases blog discusses a recent Texas opinion regarding the dangers of letting an independent contractor use the company email. An independent contractor cannot usually bind a company to an agreement because they don’t usually have the authority. The company, however, can clothe the independent contractor with the indicia of authority and lead the other party to believe they are dealing with the right person. One way to do that — have the independent contractor send emails from the company account.
Understanding the law and the government’s
To get a good baseline understanding of the law underlying the government’s ability to (store, monitor, read, index, search – you choose the verb) / (phone records/meta data/emails/cell location information — you choose the object of the verb), NPR’s Morning Edition has a good story explaining the 1978 Supreme Court decision that may say all of this is perfectly legal.
*Photo text: Rocky Mountain National Park
*Photo text: Charlie bags his first 14'er — sort of because it was Mt. Evans and we drove most of the way.
*Photo text: Cascade Falls
*Photo text: Sunrise in Grand County, Colorado
