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By W. Scott Cameron

The Internet is a seemingly endless and ever-expanding collection of information. You can find almost anything on the Internet if you look for it, and look in the right place. To find it, however, you often need the “domain name,” or address, of the web site that has the information you want. Every web page has its own unique domain name, and only one company can maintain the database that keeps track of all the domain names on the Internet. That company, currently VeriSign, Inc., essentially controls the Internet. The way VeriSign got that control, and the way it keeps it, led the Coalition for ICANN Transparency, Inc. (“CFIT”), to file an antitrust lawsuit, CFIT v. VeriSign, Inc. The Ninth Circuit ruled this week that CFIT can go forward with its suit, reversing the district court which had dismissed the suit three times. This begs the question: Will the Ninth Circuit bring down the Internet?

 Continue Reading Will An Antitrust Lawsuit Bring Down The Internet? CFIT v. VeriSign, Inc.

By Audrey A. Millemann

A recent decision from the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has interpreted provisions in patent litigation settlement agreements that grant a covenant not to sue. The case is TransCore, LP v. Electronic Transaction Consultants Corp., 2009 WL 929033 (Fed. Cir. 2009). 

 

In TransCore, the plaintiff,TransCore, LP, owned several patents covering automated toll collection systems. TransCore sued Mark IV Industries, a competitor, in 2000, for infringement of the patents. The parties settled the case. In the settlement, Mark IV paid TransCore $4.5 million and TransCore released all existing claims against Mark IV and agreed to an unconditional covenant not to sue for future infringement of the patents.

 Continue Reading TransCore Case Changes Patent Licensing and Patent Settlements

by Dale C. Campbell

 

Section 43(a) the Lanham Act provides for liability related to unregistered marks. Section 43(a) provides for civil liability for any person who, IN connection with any goods or service uses in commerce any word, term, name, symbol or any combination thereof, or any false designation origin, false or misleading description of fact or false or misleading misrepresentation of which (a) is likely to cause confusion as to the origin, sponsorship or approval of the goods or services by another person or (b) in commercial advertising or promotion misrepresents the nature, character qualities or origin of his or her good, service or commercial activity. Subsection (a) is commonly known as the false origin claim and subsection (b) is commonly known as false advertising claim. In short, one can’t be liable for claims of false origin even if the statements are not made in the course of commercial advertising or promotion as required in subsection (b).Continue Reading LANHAM ACT DAMAGES – What Is the Plaintiff’s Burden?

by James Kachmar

On May 7, 2009, the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in the case, Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc. (No. 05-36189), in which it decided the issue of whether the Communications Decency Act of 1996 (“CDA”) protected Yahoo from a lawsuit where it allegedly promised to remove harmful material to the plaintiff from its website but failed to do so. 

In 2004, Cecilia Barnes broke up with her boyfriend and he responded by posting profiles of Ms. Barnes on a Yahoo website. The profiles contained nude photographs of Ms. Barnes and her ex-boyfriend that were apparently taken without her knowledge and the profiles included solicitations to engage in sexual intercourse. The ex-boyfriend also participated in discussions in Yahoo chat rooms in which he posed as Ms. Barnes and directed correspondents to the fraudulent profiles of Ms. Barnes he had created. In response to these profiles, several men contacted plaintiff, including visits to her office, all in the expectation of sex.Continue Reading Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc.: Immunity Under The Communications Decency Act