Trademark owners can't control your PC

COMPANIES can't assert control over the computers of consumers who visit their websites under trademark law, according to a ruling from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case involved Online contact lens distributor 1-800 Contacts, which claimed that WhenU.com's SaveNow software confused potential customers by showing them adds for rivals when they were visiting its site.

1-800 won an initial preliminary injunction against WhenU.com, in October 2002. WhenU.com appealed and won, so 1-800 went back to court.

At the heart of the debate was whether it was a trademark violation for WhenU to provide users with software that gives rival's advertisements while they are surfing.

The robed, but not wigged ones, ruled that the use of a trademark in software used to generate ads is not a "use in commerce" under trademark law and chucked the case out.

WhenU was helped by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

You can read the decision here. µ