Intellectual Property Law

InsideCounsel Reports on Contrasting BlockShopper and Dozier Linking Lawsuits

By Michael Atkins

InsideCounsel always seems to have a good trademark story. The May issue is no exception. There’s a good recap of the Jones Day v. BlockShopper hyperlinking-is-trademark-infringement lawsuit, including a nice quote from University of Michigan Professor Jessica Litman:

“If it had gone to trial, BlockShopper would have won. That’s why Jones Day stopped pursuing this. BlockShopper settled because its legal bills were getting out of hand, and trial is incredibly expensive.”

The article also contrasts the BlockShopper case with Dozier Internet Law v. Riley, in which attorney John Dozier sued Ronald Riley in Virginia state court for hyperlinking Mr. Dozier’s firm’s name on Mr. Riley’s Web site with another Riley Web site that criticizes Mr. Dozier’s firm.

The article quotes Mr. Riley’s lawyer, Public Citizen attorney Paul Levy, as arguing: “Jones Day says, ‘if you link to my site it is trademark infringement.’ Dozier says, ‘if you link to another site it is trademark infringement.’ Both Dozier and Jones Day can’t be right.”

Hopefully neither is right.

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).