After more than a year on the IP beat, I had come to believe that we-own-the-Internet lawsuits were mainly the terrain of certain patent owners. But this month we saw the trademark owners step up, in the form of a major law firm protecting its intellectual property with a "permission to link" lawsuit.
Jones Day, a megafirm with 2,100+ attorneys, has sued a small real estate news service for trademark infringement, dilution, and some related claims. The firm claims that by writing two stories about Jones Day associates who bought real estate, and linking to their firm bios, Blockshopper.com ignored the law firm's trademark rights.
Last week, Public Citizen and EFF filed an amicus brief arguing that Internet hyperlinks do not a trademark infringement claim make.