scholarly journals Evolution of case law regarding the interpretation of the secondary liability standard in U.S. trademark law

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 141-155
Author(s):  
Jelena Ćeranić-Perišić

Secondary liability, according to the general rules on liability, is based on the issue of conscientiousness, in other words whether the intermediary knew or should have known that the right was infringed through his service. In U.S. law, the secondary liability standard is a result of case law. This paper presents the evolution of case law regarding the interpretation of secondary liability standard in U.S. trademark law. This standard was announced by the U.S. Supreme Court in Inwood Laboratories Inc. v. Ives Laboratories Inc. regarding the liability of manufacturers and distributors. In the decades that followed, the U.S. Courts, with their creative interpretations, extended the scope of application of this standard, first to intermediary market operators, and later to online service providers (internet intermediaries). Also, the development of digital technology has influenced the case law to adapt the secondary liability standard for trademark infringement to the new circumstances in the digital environment. The most significant cases in this context are Hard Rock Café Licensing v. Concession Services, Inc., Tiffany Inc. v. eBay Inc. and Rosetta Stone Ltd. v. Google Inc. Finally, 1-800 Contacts, Inc. v. Lens.com, Inc. demonstrates a slight turn of the U.S. Courts' practices towards a more flexible interpretation of secondary liability standard to online service providers.

Author(s):  
Giancarlo Frosio

Mapping intermediary liability online is a high call impelled by the fragmentation of intermediary liability legislation, regulation, and case law that, nonetheless, apply to globalized online service providers operating across the world in an interdependent digital environment. The Oxford Handbook of Online Intermediary Liability endeavours to substantially contribute to this mapping exercise, both from a subject-specific and jurisdictional perspective, while highlighting emerging trends in a field of research that has been fast-evolving and is today in a constant, quite unpredictable, flux. This chapter contextualizes the mapping exercise undertaken by the contributors to the Handbook. It introduces the findings of subsequent chapters and sews them together in an organic discourse to provide a blueprint for the consistent development of those chapters as it sets out in advance the most relevant trends according to which the structure of the Handbook has been generated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-215
Author(s):  
Elise Muir

This paper investigates the relationship between legislative provisions and fundamental rights by analyzing the Egenberger, IR, Bauer, Max-Planck and Cresco cases. This paper understands these cases as an invitation to reflect on whether, and if so, to what extent, EU fundamental rights' legislation, read in conjunction with the Charter, could have an impact on the scope of application, substance and/or legal effects of the Charter. This paper argues that the Court of Justice's recent case law can be understood as allowing for EU legislative guidance on fundamental rights to interact in an upward process with the rights enshrined in norms with the same rank as EU primary law. This paper sheds light on the constitutional implications of the overlaps between legislation and constitutional norms on fundamental norms while other contributions in this special issue address effectiveness and the right to an effective remedy in a broader sense.


Author(s):  
Yasin Ozcelik

Nonprofit organizations have been using the Internet for disseminating information about themselves, interacting with potential donors, and fundraising. In this chapter, we focus on online service providers for nonprofits (OSPNs) that bring donors and nonprofits together in an electronic environment to help them find a suitable match. We investigate the effects of OSPNs on the outcomes of fundraising markets by developing an economic model. We compare the total net revenues of nonprofits competing for donations in two different settings: while nonprofits in the first market use both the traditional fundraising techniques and the services provided by OSPNs, those in the second market implement the traditional method only. We derive analytical conditions under which the first setting provides better outcomes than the second one can generate.


Author(s):  
Yasin Ozcelik

The Internet is transforming the way nonprofits have been disseminating information about themselves, interacting with potential donors, and fundraising. In this article, the authors focus on a special type of online service providers for nonprofits (OSPNs) that bring donors and nonprofits together in an electronic environment to help them find a suitable match. The authors investigate the effects of OSPNs on the outcomes of fundraising markets by developing an economic model. They compare the total net revenues of nonprofits competing for donations in two different settings: while nonprofits in the first market use both the traditional fundraising techniques and the services provided by OSPNs, those in the second market implement the traditional method only. They derive analytical conditions under which the first setting provides better outcomes than the second one can generate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 205630511989732
Author(s):  
Eric P. Robinson ◽  
Yicheng Zhu

Whether they know it or not, the legal rights and responsibilities of users of websites and services, including social media, are defined and controlled by the terms of service of these online service providers. But despite the importance of these provisions, studies have shown that users rarely review terms of service, or think about their meaning. This study took advantage of a major website’s “simplification” of its terms of service to determine whether the changed language increased users’ understanding of the intended meaning of the terms of service. Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model, we evaluate the effectiveness of simplification of terms of service as a method to encourage users’ understanding on these terms.


Author(s):  
Robert D. Sprague

This chapter focuses on legal issues that may arise from the increasing use of social interaction technologies; prospective employers searching the Internet to discover information from candidates’ blogs, personal web pages, or social networking profiles; employees being fired because of blog comments; a still-evolving federal law granting online service providers sweeping immunity from liability for userpublished content; and attempts to apply the federal computer crime law to conduct on social networking sites. The U.S. legal system has been slow to adapt to the rapid proliferation of social interaction technologies. This paradox of rapid technological change and slow legal development can sometimes cause unfairness and uncertainty. Until the U.S. legal system begins to adapt to the growing use of these technologies, there will be no change.


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