Yaldo v. Doe [1]

On May 10, 2010, Dr. Mazin K. Yaldo filed a lawsuit in federal district court against an unnamed Doe defendant, asserting claims for false light ant federal and state trademark infringement and unfair competition.  The claims were based on a Google AdWords campaign that used Plaintiff's trademark YALDO EYE CENTER to trigger an ad with the headline "Yaldo Eye Center Bankrupt" and the text "What you should know before considering yaldo" next to the URL "www.crainsdetroit.com [2]" (a website that reports on local businesses in the Detroit area).  The link redirects to an article on the Crain's Detroit Business website titled "Eye surgery centers declare bankruptcy [3]," which reported that "[f]ive companies headed by ophthalmologist and eye surgeon Dr. Mazin Yaldo have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection." 

According to the Complaint [4], Defendant purchased the keywords "Yaldo Eye Center," "Dr. Mazin Yaldo," "Dr. Yaldo," and "Mazin Yaldo" through the Google AdWords program.  The Complaint alleges that "Defendant's advertising is deliberately designed to cause consumers to believe that the advertisement was sponsored by Crain's Detroit Business and that the apparent warning is coming from a credible news source rather than Defendant," and that Defendant's acts were done "with the intent of urging consumers to reconsider their choice of vision correction services."  (Complaint ¶¶ 22-23)  Plaintiff further asserts that the advertisements are misleading, because they "deceiv[e] consumers. . . into believing that Crain's Detroit Business is offering a warning about the quality of services offered by Dr. Mazin Yaldo and or the Yaldo Eye Center." (Complaint ¶ 40)

According to the Complaint, Plaintiff complained to Google about the use of the YALDO EYE CENTER mark in the Google AdWords result, and Defendant subsequently modified the language of the advertisement to read "Yaldo LASIK Bankrupt," and "What You Should Know Before Considering Yaldo LASIK." (Complaint ¶¶ 29-31)