Likelihood of Confusion’s got a nice summary of the Aug. 3 Rosetta Stone v. Google keyword advertising decision, cribbed from Jane Coleman’s forthcoming update to her book on secondary trademark infringement.
It nicely synthesizes recent case law on contributory liability, including Second Circuit’s April 1 decision in Tiffany v. eBay.
One takeaway is the case law remains unsettled.
“In finding that Rosetta Stone had not met its burden of showing that summary judgment was proper as to the contributory trademark infringement claim, the court’s language left unclear what its conclusions were regarding Google’s liability for the sale of trademark-protected keywords to competitors who were not necessarily counterfeiters.”
Here’s Eric Goldman’s rundown on the case.
I understand Rosetta Stone appealed the decision today, so in time the Fourth Circuit will get a shot at clarity.