Law | Online Business

Updated FTC Disclosure Law

March 15, 2013 by Brian Leave a Comment

2013 FTC Disclosure Guidelines The FTC has updated their guidelines and you can find the updated file here: FTC Staff Revises Online Advertising Disclosure Guidelines. From the page:

“The Federal Trade Commission today released new guidance for mobile and other online advertisers that explains how to make disclosures clear and conspicuous to avoid deception.”

Did you know that the FTC has a blog? Here is a post entitled FTC Reboots .com Disclosures: Four Key Points and One Possible Way to Bypass the Issue Altogether

Essentially they updated the guidelines to make is crystal clear that disclosures are needed no matter where the advertisement is. Here is an excellent article discussing how it applies to twitter entitled FTC Lays Down the Law on Endorsed Tweets.

Patent Holder Sues Over Facebook Like Feature

February 13, 2013 by Brian

As a prior patent attorney dealing with method patents (aka process patents or loosely called software patents) this is a very interesting case to me. These are the types of patents involved with online businesses. Obviously Facebook, like any large company, may attract lawsuits due to their success. However some may have merit. This particular lawsuit against Facebook is very interesting.

Potentially Infringed Patents

There are two patents in question:

6,289,362 : View Entire Text of 6,289,362 at US PTO here
6,415,316 : View Entire Text of 6,415,316 at US PTO here

The first patent 6,289,362 is entitled System and method for generating, transferring and using an annotated universal address and patent 6,415,316 is entitled Method and apparatus for implementing a web page diary. Both list the inventor as Joannes Jozef Everardus Van Der Meer.

Lawsuit

From what I read in the BBC Article this individual has passed away. The patents were assigned to a holding company named Rembrandt Social Media. The case against Facebook was filed in the Federal Court in Virginia. This particular court is known as the Rocket Docket because after you file you can be in front of a judge, and jury, much faster than any other district. The patents were filed in 1998 and were issued in 2001 and 2002.

How to Read the Patent
Every patent has the same sections, such as the abstract and the description. The most important part is what is known as the Claims. Think of the claims as defining what is protected, much like a fence around a yard. Some claims are broader than others and therefore protect more much like a larger fence around a larger property. The patent ending in 316 discusses what they call a ‘diary’. I do not want to speculate on the case itself but as it unfolds I will provide what I find.

While most of what I have read discusses the “like” feature I am guessing there may be more features involved in this suit.

Filed Under: Online Business Featured, Patent Tagged With: facebook, patent

Occupy Wall Street Defectors Want to be 1 Percenters

November 4, 2011 by Brian Leave a Comment

It looks like there are one or more “Occupy Wall Street” defectors. Apparently someone in the 99% wants to be in the 1%. A couple Trademark applications have been filed for the following three marks related to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Take a look at the goods and services below, such as bags, shirts, photos, videos, entertaining materials, all types of clothing and more. Interesting that some of them want to profit from this. I guess there are some Occupy Wall Street defectors.

This information is public and freely available at the USTPO

Mark 1
Application Serial Number: 85454550
Word Mark: OCCUPY WALL STREET
Goods and Services:
Periodicals and newsletters. Bags, including but not limited to backpacks, gym bags, tote bags, luggage and overnight bags. Clothing, namely t-shirts, sweatshirts, headwear, and jackets for men, women and children. Entertainment services, namely, providing a web site featuring photographic, audio, video and prose presentations featuring educational and entertaining materials relating to Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement Generally.
Filing Date: October 24, 2011
Owner (APPLICANT):
Occupy Wall Street AKA Friends of Liberty Park GA Victoria Sobel (US),
Pete Dutro (US) UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATION NEW YORK
10 Spring Street
Suite 1
New York NEW YORK 10012

Mark 2
Application Serial Number: 85454831
Word Mark: OCCUPY WALL STREET
Goods and Services:
All purpose sport bags; Backpacks; Backpacks; Backpacks, book bags, sports bags, bum bags, wallets and handbags; Beach bags; Canvas shopping bags; Carry-on bags; Gym bags; Hard-sided and soft-sided carry-on bags and gym bags; Overnight bags; Sack packs, namely, drawstring bags used as backpacks; Schoolchildren’s backpacks; Umbrellas. Footwear; Golf shirts; Hats; Headwear; Hooded sweat shirts; Polo shirts; Shirts; Short-sleeved or long-sleeved t-shirts; Sweatshirts; T-shirts; Tee shirts; Wearable garments and clothing, namely, shirts.
Filing Date: October 24, 2011
Owner (APPLICANT):
Fer-Eng Investments, LLC DBA Fer-Eng Investments, LLC LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ARIZONA
PMB 9, PO Box 5000
Rancho Santa Fe CALIFORNIA 920675000

Mark 3
Application Serial Number: 85449710
Word Mark: OCCUPY WALL ST.
Goods and Services:
STICKERS+BUMPER STICKERS
BAGS, INCLUDING HOBO BAGS, TOTE BAGS, GYM BAGS, SPORT BAGS, OVERNIGHT BAGS, BEACH BAGS, BACK PACKS, CARRY ONS, UMBRELLAS. CLOTHING; SHIRTS, SWEAT SHIRTS, HEADWEAR, FOOTWEAR
Filing Date: October 18, 2011
Owner (APPLICANT):
Maresca, Diane
UNITED STATES
688 pat drive
West Islip NEW YORK 11795

Filed Under: Business, Trademarks

AdWords and Trademarks – It May Not Be What You Think

September 2, 2011 by Brian Leave a Comment

Are you familiar with Google AdWords policy on Trademarks in advertisements placed on Google or throughout the Google network? You may think you know their policy on Trademarks, and you might, but just to be sure read on and consult Google’s policy.

Background on AdWords & Trademarks

Google AdWords
Google AdWords allows you to place an advertisement on their site or across their network. You pay when people click your advertisement, what is known as Pay Per Click (PPC). They also provide display advertising and video advertisements. Most of the advertising is text.

Trademarks
Instead of getting into the details of trademarks and service marks here is some reference material. In the United States there are three levels of rights to be aware of. First of all there is common law that may afford you rights in a mark through use of the mark, then there is State by state registration (more here at FindLaw), and finally federal registration of Trademarks from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

AdWords and Your Trademark

Let us assume your Trademark is Kleenex. You may not want anyone to be using your trademark in their advertisements for a variety of reasons. This is a common issue with advertisers that have affiliates and they tell their affiliates they cannot bid on keywords or phrases that have their trademark such as Kleenex. Many people believe you can simply tell Google not to allow others to put your trademark in their advertisement or bid on your trademark as a keyword. Then Google will not allow it. If that is what you assumed, that is not entirely correct.

From Google’s policy note the following:

Please note the regions where we will investigate ad text only. We will not disable keywords in response to a trademark complaint in these regions.

So they will investigate use of your trademark within the advertisement text however they will NOT disable the bidding of your trademark as a keyword. This means that if your trademark was Kleenex competitors of yours could bid on the keyword Kleenex. When someone searches on the word Kleenex your competitors can place an advertisement such as “Buy the best tissues around, get them here”. Here on the Google AdWords policy on Trademarks there are two links that expand. One that shows the regions that they investigate ad text only and those that they investigate ad text and keywords. Note that in the United States they only investigate ad text and not the keywords, also note that in most regions they only investigate ad text. There are probably many reasons why, one of course being the fact that the more keywords people can bid on the more money they can make and trademarks just may be a significant chunk of revenue.

Most importantly you need to understand how Google does and does not assist you with Trademark monitoring.

Filed Under: Online Marketing Featured, Search Engine Marketing, Trademarks Tagged With: adwords, trademarks

FTC Initiative Do Not Track Consumers

February 10, 2011 by Brian 1 Comment

The FTC issued an online privacy report which has been deemed the “Do Not Track” report. You can find the FTC Release Here. Here is a quote from that release:

The proposed report also suggests implementation of a “Do Not Track” mechanism – likely a persistent setting on consumers’ browsers – so consumers can choose whether to allow the collection of data regarding their online searching and browsing activities.

Maybe I am thinking too much but it seems odd that they would assume it is their decision to determine how to implement a feature in a browser. They actually say it is “likely” to be a persistent setting on consumers’ browsers, that strikes me as odd. That is like your boss saying “we have a problem and you need to fix it, so you have three choices A, B and C, and by the way I think it is likely you will choose C and as you know I can cause you harm, of course do whatever you like but I have a gut feeling you will choose C.”

I am not saying this report is not helpful and due to cases of abuse by companies online, it is welcomed. I just found that statement very interesting. You can find links to the privacy report itself on the right sidebar of the FTC Release Here.

Filed Under: Legislation