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Update 72: December 28, 2010

This time only a short update, more Links than Law, so to say. While I have been able to keep my German website running in 2010 with more than 300 postings, there have been only a few Updates this year to the English version of Links & Law. But at the end of the year, I'm proud to announce my first English article, written together with Maximilian Schubert and published in the Journal of Intellectual Property Law and Practise:

It's the Ad text, stupid': cryptic answers won't establish legal certainty for online advertisers
Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice 2010; doi: 10.1093/jiplp/jpq150

Abstract:

http://jiplp.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/11/08/jiplp.jpq150.abstract.html?
ijkey=P5kj6XP5KcVnHzZ&keytype=ref

Full Text:

http://jiplp.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/11/08/jiplp.jpq150.full.html?
ijkey=P5kj6XP5KcVnHzZ&keytype=ref

 

 

1. AdWords

  • A European Parliament report has recommended that the European Commission change the law so that search engine companies can only allow bids on terms if the owner of the term approves them:
    "modifying the limited liability regime for information society services in order to make the sale by search engines of registered brand names as advertising keywords subject to prior authorisation from the owner of the brand name in question (this applies, for example, to sites containing a keyword that redirects consumers to counterfeit sites)."
    European Parliament's report
    In December a Resolution by the European Parliament said: "[The Commission should] modify the limited liability regime for information society services in order to make the sale by search engines of registered brand names as advertising keywords subject to prior authorisation from the owner of the brand name in question."

  • News on the Rosetta Stone v. Google Appeal: Goldman, Plaintiff-Side Briefs in Rosetta Stone v. Google Appeal, Technology & Marketing Law Blog

  • The Madras High Court in India, on the 30th September, 2010 passed an interim ruling in Google's favour.

  • Is there an initial interest confusion doctrine in European trademark law? The England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division) says yes! >> Och-Ziff Management Europe Ltd & Anor v Och Capital LLP & Anor [2010] EWHC 2599 (Ch) (20 October 2010)

 

2. Street View

  • The British  Information Commissioner will not fine Google over unauthorised collection of personal data by its Street View cars, despite ruling that this was a "significant breach of the Data Protection Act" (Out-Law).

  • Street View imagery for Antarctica, Official Google Blog.

  • A god-like figure has been spotted on Google Street View, hovering midair above Walensee and A3 motorway, SMH.

  • Some 244,237 German households have so far demanded that images of their homes be removed from Google Street View (Cool Avenues)

  • An error on Google Maps has caused an international conflict in Central America, Nicaragua Raids Costa Rica, Blames Google Maps

     

3. In Short

  • Stayart, who sued Yahoo for "linking" her to viagra lost her appeal, Stayart v. Yahoo! Inc., 2010 WL 3785147 (7th Cir. Sept. 30, 2010). See Finnegan, Internet Trademark Case Summaries

  • Did Google use a picture of a large inflatable gorilla that looks similar to Scherba's copyright registered gorilla in an ad copy? Scherba Industries v. Google, Inc., 1:10-cv-02288 (N.D. Ohio complaint filed Oct. 7, 2010). Take a look at the pictures here!

  • In a long running lawsuit against the German publishing house Heise Zeitschriften Verlag the German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) rejected a link ban. Heise had linked to the Slysoft main page. Slysoft produced software for bypassing copy protection mechanisms which could be downloaded from another page on the same web site. The reasoning behind the verdict is not expected to be published for several months. For more details see Heise, Heise vs. the music industry - German appeal court rejects link ban.

  • Find out, how Google reduces its amount of taxes: Google's 'Double Irish' tax scheme saved it $3.1B.

  • Following the interim measures issued by the Autorité de la concurrence June 2010, Google commits to modify in a more transparent and predictable way for advertisers the rules governing its online advertising service, AdWords, see the Press Release.

  • The German Federal Supreme Court has ruled that placing hyperlinks in the form of deep links to a copyrighted work can cause an infringement of public accessibility rights if protective measures set up by the owner are thereby circumvented (see Härting).

 

4. New in Legal Resources

  • Sangal, Tanushree, IP Issues in Linking, Framing and Keyword Linked Advertising, C.T.L.R. 2010, 64-67

  • Forgň, Nikolaus / Krügel, Tina / Müllenbach, Kathrin, Zur datenschutz- und persönlichkeitsrechtlichen Zulässigkeit von Google Street View, CR 2010, 616-624

  • Cornthwaite, Jonathan, To Key or not to Key? The Judgement of the European Court of Justice in the Google France AdWords cases, E.I.P.R. 2010, 352-359

  • Dietrich, Florian / Zenker, Michael, Anmerkung zu BGH - Powerball, CR 2010, 604-606

  • Husovec, Martin, [SK] Selected legal issues of search engines - Keyword advertising [Vybrané právne problémy internetových vyhľadávačov - Keyword advertising] - 2009

  • Husovec, Martin, [CZ] Google Book Search - Legal threat or challenge ? [Google Book Search - právní hrozba nebo výzva?] - 2010

  • Husovec, Martin, [SK] The legal aspects of search engines [Právne aspekty internetových vyhľadávačov] - 2010

  • Burdon, Mark, Privacy Invasive Geo-Mashups: Privacy 2.0 and the Limits of First Generation Information Privacy Laws (October 5, 2009). Journal of Law, Technology and Policy, No. 1, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1697928

  • Ullrich, Jan Nicolaus, Webradioportale, Embedded Videos & Co - Inline-Linking und Framing als Grundlage urheberrechtlich relevanter (Anschluss-) Wiedergaben, ZUM 2010, 853-862

  • Leupold, Andreas, Anmerkung zu BGH - Espressomaschine, MMR 2010, 747-749

  • Kemnitzer, Kristin, Beyond Rescuecom v. Google: The Future of Keyword Advertising, Berkeley Technology Law Journal Vol. 25:401 2010, 402-427

  • Koster/Brenckman, Billboards, Menus, or What? Getting a Handle on Keyword Advertising, The Computer & Internet Lawyer 5/2010, 1-11

  • Gonzŕlez, Andrčs, The Google and Publishers Settlement: Some legal and technical implications

  • Kabateck/Gholian, Deterring bad faith clicks: Can the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act deter internet click fraud schemes, The Computer & Internet Lawyer, 7/2010, 1-6

 

 

 

 

 

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