Virtual Lobbying

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The nation's capital isn't wanting for lobbyists, but add the Washington, D.C.-based The Internet Association to the list of lobbying groups looking to influence Congress on issues ranging from online security to privacy.

Bloomberg News this week reported that Michael Beckerman will serve as the IA's CEO and president. Group members include Google, Facebook, AOL, Zynga, EBay, Expedia, Monster, LinkedIn and Trip Advisor.  Economic growth in the ether will be one of the organization's principal goals.

Qwikster Becomes Quicksand to Netflix: Company Abandons Split of DVD Rental & Video Streaming

Image via CrunchBaseNetflix, once-admired for its business acumen and streamlined operation that enabled it to topple Blockbuster and other video competitors, nowadays evokes comparisons to the bumbling video store clerks played by Jack Black and Mos Def in Be Kind Rewind (2008).

Less than three weeks after Netflix announced it was dividing its operations into separate subscriptions for Netflix, which would stream movies, and Qwikster, which would rent DVDs through the mail (see "TUOL" post 9/21/11), The New York Times reports today that the company will keep the two operations together under the Netflix name and Website.

The bold corporate decision to say: "Never mind," follows a firestorm of criticism and an estimated 1 million users out of the company's 25 million subscribers jumping ship to protest the lack of notice and the boost in the monthly subscription rate from $10 for the two services to a proposed $16, or $8 apiece, for Netflix video streaming and Qwikster DVD mailing.

Although he declined to be interviewed, the Times article reported a statement released by Netflix chief honcho Reed Hastings, who distinguished between "moving quickly--which Netflix has done very well for years--and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case."  It remains to be seen whether subscribers, happy that the company wouldn't be split into two entities, will nonetheless absorb the higher $16 monthly subscription fee, which has not been rolled back.

Netflix Tries to Pull a Qwikster on Its Subscribers

Image via CrunchBaseUndoing a public relations fiasco can be harder than coaxing toothpaste back into a tube, but Netflix chief executive Reed Hastings gave it the old college try this week, The New York Times reported.

In announcing that Netflix will continue to stream movies but that its DVD-in-the-mail subscription service will now operate separately under the name Qwikster, Hastings also apologized to the company's users for mishandling the announced price increase for subscribers. The company's rate jumped 60 percent from $10 a month for online movie streaming and DVD mail delivery to a combined $16 a month or $8 for each of the Qwikster and Netflix services.

According to the Times article, the price boost prompted roughly 1 million of the company's estimated 25 million customers to abandon ship.

Online Shop Sites Liable for 'Active' Promoting of Fake Goods, Euro High Court Warns

Image via WikipediaeBay and other online shopping sites can't skirt trademark infringement claims if they have an "active role" in hawking counterfeit products, a full panel of the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") in Luxembourg has ruled.

Since 2007, cosmetics and beauty giant L'Oreal has locked horns with eBay, the world's largest online auction site, when the Paris-based company turned to the ECJ by linking lawsuits filed in France, Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom, according to articles in The Independent and The Guardian. L'Oreal blames eBay for the sale of counterfeit goods on its Website as well as the sale of "parallel imports" (imported L'Oreal products not aimed at the European market). eBay argues that it should not be accountable unless it fails to act after a trademark holder notifies it of an infringement.

In a ruling that resonates in the world of e-commerce, the ECJ said national courts may order eBay and such companies "to take measures intended not only to bring to an end infringements of intellectual property sites, but also to prevent further infringments of that kind,"  The Guardian reports. The ECJ said European Union trademark rules are applicable to sales offers and advertisements involving trademarked goods outside EU countries once "it is clear that those offers are targeted at consumers in the EU."

L'Oreal complained that by paying for keywords from Internet referencing services, such as Google's AdWords, that correspond to the cosmetics company's trademarks, eBay was directing users "toward goods that infringe trademark law, which are offered for sale on its Website."  Although the ECJ said liability may attach if the online shopping site takes an "active role" in promoting sham goods or fails to remove goods upon notice that the sales are unlawful, eBay and its competitors are not liable merely for permiting its customers to display signs corresponding to trademarks.