American Blinds and Wallpaper v Google

American Blinds and Wallpaper took Google to court after its competitors were advertised alongside search results for American Blinds own business. Under the suit, users would search in Google or "America Blinds and Wallpaper" and the competitors would show up as advertisements.

Google petitioned to have the case thrown out - and District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel denied the petition stating that the public had in interest in whether AdWords was violating Trademark Rights.

Read the case here.

Sounding in on the Copyright issues facing online Sites sharing Digital Video, Music, and Information

For the last six months, and probably for the foreseeable year, the attention getting headlines have been the actions and reactions by big label entertainment companies such as Viacom and EMI. The majority of headlines were made when Steve Jobs posted his open letter around Digital Rights Management (DRM), the subsequent EU suite against Apple, and the Viacom lawsuit against Google - all connected through the common premise of copyright protection. These headlines make this year the year to focus on how content is distributed and managed in our online world. The results which will come out of these disputes will shape the how copyright holders protect their work, how the legal community enforce the protections, and how the world wide community approaches it.

There are two type of solutions which I am watching for - one being short-term technical solutions like those reported in the WSJ this morning (see “Policing Web Video With 'Fingerprints'”) where technology solutions support the search for copyright infringements. The second being better laws which serve the benefit and protection of all parties involved. Right now, YouTube and others utilize a “Safe-Harbor” under copyright law which states that if the hosting provider knows or is made aware of a copyright infringement, they must remove the infringement (see TITLE 17 > CHAPTER 5 > § 512). One of the main issues with this is when organizations such as Google pro actively look for infringers: Do they appear to be opting out of the Safe Harbor and opening themselves up for lawsuits?

Juxtaposing the EU antitrust probe against Apple, with the problems that YouTube and other online sharing sites are facing makes me wonder if a more global solutions is needed to finally open up content on the internet while at the same time protect the rights of copyright holders and encourage the use of content sharing on the net. Though I am a fan of having multiple legal systems for the "lab" approach of trying out different laws, the internet has no borders.

Urban v. Urban - I love this

Country singer Keith Urban recently filed a lawsuit claiming that Keith Urban (the non-legendary painter from NJ) has been cybersquatting and infringing on the former's trademark. This is not only interesting because of the use of one's name as a trademark - but also because of the domain rights. The painter registered the domain in 1999. Soon after, the country singer registered the .net version.

Read about the filing in the Tennessean.com

Here's the original filing: Urban v. Urban

The Day the Music Died (which may not be a bad thing)

The EU's new anti-trust lawsuit against Apple appears to be on its face - a bad thing. But once you read into the details of what's going on - it could open up intellectual property and how we use it in our work and homes. In reality - the fundamentals of the lawsuit appear to attack the complex licensing issues that exist in each of the member states of the EU rather than Apple owning the rights of the organization.

Read about the complexities here. Imagine each state in the US having different licensing schemes for music, video, or content - and Apple trying to sell this information to one market in the US. Unifying the licensing scheme would break down the barriers of use and sales - and perhaps increase availability.

International Law Cracking Down - Domain Name Disputes

I am guessing we'll see this more and more - domain name disputes being handled quickly and efficiently around the globe!

Read more of South Africa's crack down on Domain Name Disputes

Law Firm and Bloggers

Interesting article on Law.com which has the potential to silence lawyers (good for some - bad for those who enjoy quality posts). Nothing will stop us more than the yanking of our malpractice insurance. I wonder what the affect on doctors are?

Read the articles here.