Seventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Trademark Suit That Was Based on Yahoo! Search Results
Beverly Stayart sued Yahoo! and others for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act and various state law claims in connection with the search results she received when searching her name on Yahoo's search engine. Specifically, she claimed that the search results improperly gave her endorsement to pornography and online pharmaceuticals in violation of Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act.
The District Court dismissed Stayart's complaint without leave to amend, finding that she lacked standing to sue for trademark infringement under the Lanham Act. The Seventh Circuit readily agreed, concluding that notwithstanding the activities Stayart alleged she engaged in ("humanitarian efforts on behalf of baby seals, wolves and wild horses; what she describes as 'scholarly posts' on a website; two poems that appear on a Danish website; and genealogy research"), she did not have the necessary commercial interest in her name to establish standing under the Lanham Act.
The case cite is Stayart v. Yahoo! Inc., No. 09-3379 (7th Cir. Sept. 30, 2010).
