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USA: Hyperlinks to Competing Products on web site with mark

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania held January 12, 2009 that an online company may have initially confused consumers by providing links to its products on a web site despite listing another company as a "featured brand" and denied a motion for summary judgement.

Babyage.com had created a Leachco "featured brand" webpage in 2007. It displayed the "Leachco" trademark and included a section of the page entitled "Pregnancy Pillows". In the text, "Today's Mom Cozy Comfort" and "Serenity Star," denoted
clickable hyperlinks that, when selected, took the viewer to webpages containing non-Leachco products, including BabyAge's Cozy Comfort pillow, a lower-priced competitor of Leachco's Back'n'Belly pillow. Leachco argues that this webpage content constitutes an unlawful "bait and switch" whereby prospective customers are "baited" by Leachco's brand into visiting the Leachco "featured brand" webpage on the BabyAge Website, baited into pursuing a Leachco pregnancy pillow, and then "switched" to non-Leachco pregnancy pillows by the above-mentioned hyperlinks provided on the webpage.

BabyAge.com Inc. v. Leachco Inc., M.D. Pa., No. 07-1600, 1/12/09

 

 

 

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