A Federal court in San Francisco has handed down a ruling in the court case of the EFF vs. Sanofi-Aventis Group, a huge French drug company. At first look, it might be a not-that-interesting side note in the war to define the rules of the Internet, but it’s actually a far-reaching and important decision.

In brief, the pharmaceutical company was trying to keep Medical Week News from publishing a web site, AcompliaReport.com. Acomplia is the name of a drug manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis and they were seeking to have the web site taken down. They lost the case. It’s an obvious parallel with any number of cases brought by Microsoft, who may find that it’s not so easy, next time.

Read more… and go down to the entry “AcompliaReport.com Sues for Right to Use Trademark to Report on New Drug”