A District Court in New York has become the latest to find that using a competitor's trademark in Google's AdWords program can be trademark infringement. District Judge Roslynn R. Mauskopf found that the Defendants' selection of "PILLOW PETS" and similar marks as a trigger for Google Ads is likely an infringement of the Plaintiff's registered trademarks "MY PILLOW PETS" and "IT'S A PILLOW, IT'S A PET", and granted Plaintiff's motion for a preliminary injunction. The case is CJ…

Microsoft has recently tested a new system of advertising whereby ads are not placed on top of the organic search results, nor to the side, nor on a colored background, but actually within the list of organic results.  Is this a smart move?  Will Microsoft find itself on the end of a (meritorious) lawsuit for trademark infringement or unfair competition?  Probably not.  

The news of this new approach broke on the …

In a decision that is already attracting plenty of controversy, comments, compliments and complaints, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has held that isolated human DNA molecules are patentable, and were validly patented by Myriad, under the (US) Patents Act.  See Association for Molecular Pathology et al. v. Myriad Genetics, Inc et al. (Case No 2010-1406, Decided July 29, 2011).  The decision reverses in part and affirms in part the decision of Judge…

While the Wall Street Journal (initially, at any rate) declared outright victory for Google’s AdWords service after the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ” or “CJEU”)…