Cyberlaw: March 2009

Google/Louis Vuitton legal battle resumes

See The Guardian

Google today entered the latest stage in a four-year legal battle against luxury brand Louis Vuitton which accuses the US internet giant of selling trademark search terms relating to its products to rivals.

Google's lawyers are at the European Court of Justice today as part of a hearing relating to an appeal the search company lodged after LVMH won a case in France against Google in 2005.

Amazon and Copyright

See http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10196424-38.htm l

This week, an e-book Web site said Amazon.com invoked the 1998 law to prevent books from some non-Amazon sources from working on its Kindle reader.

Amazon sent a legal notice to MobileRead.com complaining that information relating to a computer utility written in the Python programming language "constitutes a violation" of the DMCA, according to a copy of the warning letter that the site posted. MobileRead.com is an e-book news and community site.

Google and NZ Copyright

Stepping into local New Zealand political debate for the first time, Google makes a submission on the draft ISP code of practice – and it doesn’t hold back, citing a rash of bogus copyright claims it has received in the US. In its opening salvo, the company says, "section 92A undermines the incredible social and economic benefits of the open and universally accessible internet, by providing for a remedy of account termination or disconnection that is disproportionate to the harm of copyright infringement online.”

Cybersquatting

Cybersquatting Cases Hit Record In 2008
WIPO has announced that companies and celebrities ranging from Arsenal football club to actress Scarlett Johansson filed a record number of "cybersquatting" cases in 2008 to stop others from profiting from their famous names, brands, and events. The most common business sector in which complaints arose was pharmaceuticals, due to Web sites offering sales of medicines with protected names.

10 March: Social Media Club Brisbane

Instead of the usual LWN117 class on Tuesday 10 March, you are encouraged to attend the March event of the Social Media Club Brisbane:

SMCB March is a panel discussion about legal issues related to the social media world. Joining us on the panel for the evening is:
Peter Black, Lecturer, QUT Law School
Professor Brian Fitzgerald, Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation, QUT Law School
John Swinson, Partner, Mallesons
After you've picked the lawyers' brains hang around for a few drinks downstairs at Lock n Load's Jazz Night. Feel free to arrive from 5.30pm, with the panel session starting at 6.00pm.

SMBC March is proudly supported by QUT Faculty of Law and Lock n Load Bistro.
http://www.twitter.com/smcb
http://www.law.qut.edu.au
http://www.locknloadbistro.com.au
Lock n Load is at 142 Boundary St, West End QLD 4101. View Google Maps here.

Patents and Google

Google Patent Chief: Patent reform needed more than ever
Posted: 03 Mar 2009 11:29 AM PST

Editorial by Michelle Lee, Head of Patents and Patent Strategy at Google, See http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2009/03/patent-reform-needed-more-than-ever.html

NYTimes article about Google settlement

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/04/books/04google.html

The Law of Google

These are my notes for class for Tuesday, 3 March 2009. The class is "The law of Google".

1. The breadth of Google.

Search
www.google.com
www.google.com.au
www.google.co.uk
www.google.ca
www.google.de
www.google.com.br
www.google.com.bd
www.igoogle.com
News
Images
Blogs
Maps
Videos
Books
Scholarly Papers
Finance
Custom Search, example: Leading Australian Law Firms
Syndicated Search and example
Directory
Products
Google Base

Search tricks and tips
Internal search
Site Search
Site Map

Other Google Stuff
Toolbar
Google Accounts
Web History
Gmail
Photos: Picasa and Picasa Web
Chrome Browser
Blogger
Groups
Reader
Notebook
Calendar
Docs
Talk
YouTube

More information: Wikipedia
How Google Works
Google Sitemap

2. AdWords and AdSense: Google Advertising

A. Do these searches on Google, Australian Google and UK Google and compare results:

Noosa
Hilton
Q1
cheap accomodation queensland
flowers paddington
the tallest building in brisbane is
DSL-G604T
Sony
Harvey World Travel
Harvey World Travel Insurance

B. AdSense

Look at the Google Ads on these websites:

NY Times
Van Gogh Gallery
Brisbane Apartments and Reviews
Cyberlaw and Policy and example article
This Blog (look top right --->

More information on Adsense

C. Google Trends and Google Analytics

D. AdWords

create Ad
select Keywords, budget and display location
people then click on your Ad.

Terms: pay-per-click (PPC); cost-per-click (CPC); cost-per-impression (CPM); click through rate (CTR)

KeyWord Tool and Tool

More information: Google Learning Centre

E. Other types of Google advertising
Maps

F. Problems & Issues

(a) Pay Per Click Websites

Look at these websites:

(What is legitimate? See RealSpanking and Jackass and UStream)

(b) Click Fraud
What percentage of click are fraudulent? See this story and here too.
Clickfraud is old news: Crack-down

(c) Trade Mark Issues
Google Procedure
ACCC Lawsuit: See here and here and here and here (Google filed its defence on 17 November 2008.)
RescueCom Lawsuit
French Lawsuit
Geico Lawsuit and settlement

More information
Google Business Solutions

3. Legal issues and lawsuits

Book Search Lawsuit and here
Caching & Copyright: see here and here and here

Also, see older posts in this blog, such as this post from 2006.

Cyberlaw

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