Video Illustrating Google Adword Abuse
Video distributed in YouTube illustrating adword abuse (worth the 9 minutes).
May 03, 2006
Class Action Suit Against Yahoo For 'Syndication Fraud'
Text of Complaint in Crafts by Veronica v. Yahoo, filed in the District Court of New Jersey on Monday.
Washington Post coverage here.
April 27, 2006
'Google Sued In Israel For Search Ad Trademark Dispute'
Search Engine Watch: 'Google Sued In Israel For Search Ad Trademark Dispute.'
April 20, 2006
Mark Cuban on 'What Is Click Fraud'?
Mark Cuban discusses the definition (and extent) of click fraud. He gives several examples:
"[Click Fraud is] a click by a system or person on a page designed to circumvent the advertiser's intent. In otherwords, advertisers are spending their money in order to get results. They have directed money to PPC advertising to get click throughs from their intended audience, to their intended destination.
If a kid on myspace says "click on the ads" to help me pay for XYZ, and they do, that's click fraud.
If an ad shows up on a splog and the advertisers doesn't want their ads on splogs. That's click fraud.
If an ad shows up on a parked domain and the advertiser doesnt want their ads on parked domains. That's click fraud.
If an ad shows up on a page thats part of an arbitrage scheme (buy clicks from a cheap PPC company, sell them using a more expensive PPC provider), that's click fraud."
April 19, 2006
Aussie Adwords Dispute
IPKat: "Aussie Adwords And True-Blue Pans' (Telstra purchases keyword reflecting name of competitor).
Aussie barrister Warwick Rothnie comments here.
Law Font comments here.
April 06, 2006
SDNY: Keyword Purchases Not Trademark Use
Merck and MSD Technology v. Mediplan Health Consulting, 05 CV 3650 (DC) (SDNY March 30, 2006).
Prof. Tushnet commentary here.
Prof. Goldman commentary here.
March 31, 2006
Keyword Ad Purchase May Be Trademark Infringement
Technology & Marketing Law Blog: 'Competitor's Keyword Ad Purchase May Be Trademark Infringement' (discussing District of Minnesota case Edina Realty v. TheMSLonline.com).
March 21, 2006
Google Sued Over Page Rank
Technology & Marketing Law Blog: Google Sued Over Rankings - KinderStart.com v. Google.
March 03, 2006
Google Giveth And Taketh Away
February 24, 2006
'Internet Trademark Suits and the Demise of 'Trademark Use'
Barrett, 'Internet Trademark Suits and the Demise of 'Trademark Use,' 39 U.C. Davis L. Rev. 371 (2006). Abstract:
"The Internet has provided countless new ways for ingenious businesses and individuals to refer to a plaintiff's mark in a manner that impacts the plaintiff's business. These new methods may not directly associate the mark with goods or services that the defendant is offering for sale and may be completely hidden from consumers' view. In evaluating the numerous trademark infringement and dilution suits that these unauthorized references have generated, courts have often failed to focus on the appropriate role of the "trademark use" requirement, which has traditionally limited the scope of the trademark infringement (and more recently, trademark dilution) cause of action. Some courts appear to have completely ignored the trademark use limitation, while others have acknowledged the limitation but construed it in a manner that undercuts or distorts it. This has given rise to a number of splits in the Circuit Courts of Appeals. This Article undertakes to bring some focus and coherence to the trademark use issue in the Internet context. It provides an in-depth examination of the history and purpose of the limitation and proposes a modern, general definition of "trademark use" in light of that history and purpose. It then demonstrates how this definition should apply in several important contexts on the Internet."
HT Prof Goldman, who provides other links to law review articles on the same topic.
Do Search Engine Users Click On Organic or Paid Search More?
What percentage of search engine users click on organic search results as opposed to the paid listings? This question was asked on a Search Engine Watch forum. unfortunately the most recent public statistics seems to be a 2004 iProspect report that states:
Google - 72.3% organic, 27.7% Paid ads
All engines - 60.5% organic, 39.5% paid ads
If you have a link for more recent stats, send it on.
February 23, 2006
'Yahoo To Ban Bidding On Competitor Trademarks . . "
Search Engine Watch: 'Yahoo To Ban Bidding On Competitor Trademarks To Stop Comparison Advertising.'
February 14, 2006
New Keyword Lawsuit Against Google
CNG Financial v. Google, 06CV 040 (S.D. Ohio). Financial company sues over sale of CASH N' GO as keyword, alleging direct and indirect infringement. hat tip BNA Internet Law News.
February 11, 2006
Google Penalizes SEO Company
Matt Cutts: Google confirms penalizing SEO company.
February 06, 2006
BMW Penalized By Google
Google has de-listed BMW.DE for violating Google's webmaster's guidelines, specifically the BMW site was presenting contenting to the search engine that differed from that actually viewed by users. Via Ricoh is reportedly going to receive a simialr sanction. Matt Cutts' 'Gadgets, Google and SEO' blog,
February 02, 2006
World Newspaper Org Wants Cut
January 06, 2006
Would the Words 'Pack' and 'Cube' Be Good Keywords To Purchase Today?
Because there will be a lot of traffic for GOOGLE CUBE and GOOGLE PACK?
January 03, 2006
Wired Article On Click Fraud, Splogs and Zombie Networks
Wired article: "How Click Fraud Could Swallow the Internet" Discussion of click fraud, impression fraud, splogs and zombie networks, and whether cost-per-action advertising is the answer.
December 09, 2005
Google Increases Font Size Of Adwords To That Of Organic Results
Whether an ad appearing alongside organic search results for a search consisting of a trademark, creates a likelihood of confusion with that trademark, may depend in part on the user's ability to distinguish what on the search results page is an organic result and what is a paid result.
Publicly available research in the topic is sparse and of questionable methodology. However, for what it's worth, such research suggested that users were not easily distinguishing between paid and organic search. However, with the growing public awareness of Google and paid search in general, it may be the case that this research is out-dated.
Be that as it may, it is likely a step backward that it appears that today Google increased the size of the Adwords font so that it is the same size of the organic results.
Google screenshot from Bizresearch.
December 03, 2005
Yale Search Engine Symposium Papers
November 27, 2005
Blind Search Engine Taste Test
Compare results among three leading search engines. I tried it out with 'Trademark Lawyer' and the discrepancy was a little surprising. Via Searchblog.
November 10, 2005
'An All-Too-Familiar Tale of Competitive Zeal and Overreaction"
Rendered no less sordid for its oft-retelling. Prof Eric Goldman on the Office Depot v. Staple VIKING keyword case.
November 07, 2005
Office Depot v. Staples Re Keywords
Via MassLawBlog, a post on a new keyword case, in which Office Depot has sued Staples protesting Staples purchase of VIKING as a keyword, Viking being an Office Depot subsidiary.
November 01, 2005
Yale Symposium on Search Engines - December 3
The Trademark Blog goes to Yale. I will be speaking on a panel entitled "Search Engines and Intellectual Property" as part of A Symposium on Search Engines, Law, and Public Policy on December 3.