Chicago Law Firm Sues Over Hyperlink To Trademarked Name

TheSpoom writes "Large Chicago law firm Jones Day are suing internet startup BlockShopper over the issue of whether linking to a business with their trademarked name should be legal. It would seem they are using trademark dilution as a tool to get BlockShopper to cease linking to their website. The EFF has filed an amicus curiae, as might be expected. If Jones Day wins this suit, anyone linking using a trademarked name may be in legal hot water."

Comments

Re:I say we give 'em what they want.

[AKAImBatman]

They don't, actually. Jones Day is a law firm. The only sites they want linking to them are the ones that say, "This is a good lawyer to hire." ANYTHING else has the potential to shed light on the details of their business. Since law practice is not always clean and pristine (as this article demonstrates), Jones day is likely to be unhappy about drawing attention to their practices.

Disclaimer: This post is an opinion and makes no factual statements. By reading this post you waive all rights to sue, counterclaim, issue official correspondence, or even look at AKAImBatman (User #238306) with a funny look on your face.

Interesting site, BlockShopper

[Rurik]

In reviewing the site, I can see how it pisses people off. You get someone mad and they'll find some way to attack. The site canvasses the real estate market in a few large cities and makes not of prominent people that buy or sell property. It then does a mini-bio on the person, sometimes with their picture example. The site is fully within their rights to do so, but I can understand the feelings of a person suddenly showing up on there with their life story just because they bought a house. So, they find loop holes to get it taken down.

Re:Yes, but...

[TheSpoom]

*whoosh*

(Dude's creating trademark confusion, methinks.)

Re:Jones Day Is Based In Cleveland

[Locklin]

Imagine how happy you would be if I sued you for something frivolous. Or how about if a bird crapped on your car.

The law doesn't exist just to make people happy.

Re:How not to advertise your business

[Darth]

Copyright has no requirement to aggressively defend it.

Trademark does, but using a trademark to identify the business that owns the trademark isn't an abuse of the trademark. It's the purpose of the trademark.

Re:Death of The Web

[canajin56]

Death of a lot more than that. They aren't actually suing over the link, if you read the linked articles. They are suing over their name being mentioned at all. The hyperlink is only even mentioned to get the /. crowd enraged. While true that it does contain a hyperlink, they are not suing for that, they are suing because they believe the article written ABOUT THEM may falsely mislead people into believing it was written BY them.