Strafford

Contextual Advertising on the Internet: The Evolving Trademark Challenge

Strategies to Protect Brands and Avoid Liability for Infringement

Recording of a 90-minute CLE webinar/teleconference with Q&A

Conducted on Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Recorded event now available

The teleconference/webinar format offers two options for participation: audio only via telephone (download speaker handouts prior to the program) or audio via phone plus online viewing of speaker-controlled PowerPoint presentations.

This seminar will examine how the courts are addressing trademark infringement claims arising from online contextual advertising. The panel will provide strategies for companies to take advantage of contextual advertising's benefits while avoiding liability for infringement.

Description

In recent years, online contextual advertising has become a powerful, cost-effective marketing tool for companies. Contextual advertising—ads targeting Internet users based on the users’ online behavior—is a multibillion-dollar business for adware companies and Internet search engines.

The surge in online contextual advertising has raised questions of whether contextual ads violate competitors’ trademarks. Litigation arising from contextual advertising yields inconsistent results, as the determination of trademark infringement tends to be fact-specific.

On April 3, 2009, the Second Circuit issued an instructive ruling in Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc. The ruling highlighted potential liabilities due to a companies’ use of competitor trademarks in contextual advertising and the increasing likelihood of future infringement lawsuits.

Listen as our panel of intellectual property attorneys examines how the courts are addressing online contextual advertising. The panel will outline best practices for companies to leverage the business benefits of contextual advertising while avoiding liability for trademark infringement.

Outline

Online contextual advertising — overview
1. Metatags
2. Pop-up advertising
3. Keyword advertising
4. Click-through advertising
Court treatment of contextual advertising
1. Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc. (2d Cir. 2009) and other recent “use in commerce” cases
2. Likelihood of confusion/initial interest confusion
Best practices for avoiding liability for infringement

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

How are the courts responding to trademark infringement cases arising from the increase in contextual advertising on the Internet?
What lessons on "use in commerce" can IP counsel glean from the recent Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc. ruling?
How will courts likely deal with the "likelihood of confusion" issues surrounding contextual advertising on the Internet?

Faculty

Terence P. Ross, Partner
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Washington, D.C.

He has broad experience in various types of intellectual property disputes, including patent and copyright infringement; trade secret and unfair competition litigation; and trademark/trade name disputes. He represents a number of media companies and other content providers who publish on the Internet. He speaks and writes regularly on a variety of intellectual property topics.

Jessica L. Rothstein, Senior Counsel
Goodwin Procter, New York

She concentrates her practice in the counseling, protection and licensing of intellectual property rights, with an emphasis on the worldwide protection of trademarks. She also advises clients as to a broad range of transactions relating to intellectual property rights, including research and development agreements, noncompete, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

Norman C. Simon, Partner
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, New York

He works on all aspects of commercial litigation, at both the trial and appellate levels, as well as in the arbitration context. He has significant expertise in intellectual property (advertising, trademark and copyright) litigation. He has litigated a number of trademark/trade dress and copyright infringement actions.

Ordering

Online CLE - Audio Recording

Includes audio streaming of full program plus handouts (available 24 hours after live seminar).

CLE: Pre-approved for participatory or non-traditional/alternate format credit in: CA, HI*, NY*, WV*. Pre-approved for self-study credit in: AK, AZ, MO, MT, TX, VT, WA.
Upon request, also available in: CO, CT*, FL, GA, ID, KY, LA, ME, NC, ND, NE, NH, NM, NV, OR*, SC, TN, UT, WI*, WY. If you are applying for credit in one of these states, make sure to select those states when placing your order.
(*Indicates that Strafford must report attendance.)

Online CLE Audio $74.50
Available 24 hours after the live event