As blogging continues to grow, it is rather surprising how few lawsuits have been filed concerning the opinions expressed through blogs. Leading the way is aBidZerk, a company which sells your goods on eBay for a fee. At issue was a post which described at length the negative experiences a blogger had with BidZerk. BidZerk subsequently filed a lawsuit which alleged defamation and trade mark violations among other things. Filed in the District of South Carolina, BidZirk v. Smith, 2007 WL 3119445 (D.S.C. Oct. 22, 2007), Smith was ultimately granted summary judgment as well as sanctions against Plaintiff’s counsel. (In honor of Smith’s victory, TechnoEsq has decided to defiantly link to BidZirk’s corporate logo.)
In its decision the Court held:
1.) Linking to a photograph published on another website is not a publicity rights violation;
2.) Blogger’s remarks are in the context of news reporting or commentary and thus are immune from trademark claims. (Granting the same protection given journalists though not specifically labeling bloggers journalists.)
This is very good news for bloggers from the legal front. As can be seen on the New York Personal Injury Law Blog, blogs are consistently asked to cease and desist from the use of corporate logos when commenting on businesses. (Fortunately TechnoEsq.com has not been presented with any, but we expect some from Microsoft any day now) Having such caselaw found in BidZirk v. Smith can go a long way to fending off such attempts at legal bullying.