Trademark Claim Survives in Google Pirated Textbook Ads Suit

Google LLC failed to escape a trademark infringement claim in a lawsuit alleging it systemically let counterfeit textbook sellers use Google’s AdSense despite infringement notices, though a New York federal judge agreed to toss a copyright claim.

Google lacked the required level of control and supervision over the alleged pirate sites for a group of publishers to claim vicarious copyright infringement, Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ruled in a Wednesday opinion in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said. But Rochon found Cengage Learning Inc., MacMillan Learning, EElsevier Inc., and McGraw Hill LLC sufficiently pleaded that ...