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WhenU.com Enjoined From Competing Pop-Ups

Posted by timothy on from the a-little-too-easy-that-way dept.

Frisky070802 writes "The NY Times reports that a preliminary injunction has been issued against WhenU.com, a company that distributes software that performs certain tasks for users but also intercepts their website visits so that, for instance, a visitor to Expedia would see a pop-up ad for Orbitz. Now if only we could get rid of all the rest of the pop-up ads."

4 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. I'm not a Lawyer but I playone on /. by frode · · Score: 0, Redundant

    "[The Judge] noted that WhenU places the 1-800 Contacts.com Web address in an internal database that is used to trigger the display of competitors' ads. That, she wrote, violates the Lanham Act's trademark protections, because WhenU has used the trademark of 1-800 Contacts in a way that is likely to cause consumer confusion."
    ____

    Since it is an internal database which is entirely
    transparent to the end user I doubt this ruling will stand at trial.

    Also I'm sure in the 8 billion page Eula the End-user agreed to when they installed what ever free software this pop-up program resides in that they (end users)are aware that they can be re-directed to another site depending on their activitites. If not I'm sure a new Eula is being written right now.

    As a side note using a combination of Mozilla and Adaware I haven't had a pop-up in months.

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    I have no .Sig
  2. There still are popups ? by Eivind · · Score: 0, Redundant
    Seriously. Anyone who is annoyed at popups has had the choise of installing a decent web-browser and be done with it for ages. Firebird doesn't show any pop-ups. All that happens is that a discreete icon shows up in the statusbar. If you really like, you can click on this icon and say "allow popups from this host". Personally, I take the icon as meaning roughly "consumer-hostile site, consider taking your bussiness elsewhere."

    So, to a person with a decent browser (a browser that forces you to deal with popups when you don't wish to do is not "decent".) all popups do is act as a warning-sign for sleazy bussinesses. Unless you want to, you never even see them.

  3. ob plug by Tom · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Now if only we could get rid of all the rest of the pop-up ads.

    It's called Mozilla.

    Haven't seen a popup in ages.

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    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  4. Pop-ips? by haggar · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Honestly, I don't understand how can even a marginally technically knowledgeable person still worry about pop-ups. Just use Firebird, and forget about pop-ups, as I did. As far as I'm concertned, pop-ups are a battle I feel I as a computer user, have now won.

    Next up: spam. Score: losing.

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    Sigged!