BN.com Loses Trademark Ruling v. Halfpricebooks.com

A district court judge recently dismissed BarnesandNoble.com's motion for summary judgment in a case brought by Halfpricebooks.com, which sued the online book giant in 2002 for infringing its trademark "Half Price Books." The judge's opinion effectively allows Half Price's suit to proceed on the grounds that BN.com could have overstepped fair-use laws governing the right to use descriptive trademarks.