American Airlines has sued Yahoo for trademark infringement according to a CNET News article. American Airlines claims that Yahoo is diverting business from them by allowing competitors to purchase ads next to search results for terms related to American Airlines trademarks. Yahoo’s current trademarks policy states that advertising on search terms that may be someone else’s trademark is only allowed “if the advertiser presents content on its Web site that (a) refers to the trademark or its owner or related product in a permissible nominative manner without creating a likelihood of consumer confusion (for example, sale of a product bearing the trademark, or commentary, criticism or other permissible information about the trademark owner or its product) or (b) uses the term in a generic or merely descriptive manner. In addition, the advertiser’s listing should disclose the nature of the relevant content.” American Airlines previously sued Google over the issue and reached a confidential settlement.
Category: Lawsuit
Justice Department May Be Preparing Challenge to Google-Yahoo Partnership
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that the U.S. Justice Department has hired a well-known lawyer for a possible antitrust lawsuit against Google. The lawyer, Sanford Litvack, was the Justice Department antitrust chief for President Jimmy Carter as well as a former vice chairman of Disney and partner at law firm Hogan & Hartson. The report says that it is not clear if the possible challenge would be to the Google-Yahoo search advertising partnership alone or if it would encompass Google’s overall online-advertising business. Lawyers familiar with the review told the Journal that “For weeks, U.S. lawyers have been deposing witnesses and issuing subpoenas for documents to support a challenge to the deal.”
Comcast Appeals FCC Net Neutrality Related Sanctions
The New York Times Bits Blog reports that Comcast filed a suit in the United States Court of Appeals in Washington to challenge the FCC’s sanctions over it’s throttling of certain protocols on customers connections. Comcast is challenging the FCC’s ability to sanctions companies without first publishing a rule about the issue at hand. Under the current FCC chairman Kevin Martin, the FCC has published broad principles and has only taken action when it finds practices it objects to. Comcast complains that by bypassing formal rules, their ability to put forth their side of issue is restricted.
Target Settles Lawsuit Over Blind Accessibility to Website
Target has settled a lawsuit over the inability of the blind to access their website. CNET News reports that Target will establish a $6 million dollar fund for settlement claims and promised to “make its site fully accessible to blind visitors”. The basis of the suit was that the lack alt-text tags for images on the site made it difficult, if not impossible, for blind customers to use site and that this was a violation of state and federal disability rights laws.