Google Inc. v. American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, Inc.

Filing 188

Google Inc. v. American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, Inc.

Case 5:03-cv-05340-JF

Document 188-12

Filed 09/07/2006

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Dockets.Justia.com

Case 5:03-cv-05340-JF

Document 188-12

Filed 09/07/2006

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNA
GOOGLE, INC., a Delawarè corporation,
-l:

vs.

Plaintiff,
Case No. C 03-5340-JF

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AMRICAN BLIND & WALLPAPER FACTORY, INC., a Delaware corporation

CERTIFIED

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d/bl a decoratetoday. com, Inc., and
Defendants.

COpy
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DOES 1 - 100, inclusive,

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AMICAN BLIND & WALLPAPER .
FACTORY, INC:, a Delaware corporation d/b/a decoratetoday. com, Inc.,

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vs.
GOOGLE, INC.,

Counter-Plaintiff,

Counter~Defendant _

I
The video depçisition of JEFFREY A. ALDERM, of the State of California, before Lana Kia Haws, CRR, CM, RPR, CSR-0995, a Notary
taken pursuant to the Rules

Pulic in the County of. Oakland, Acting in 'the. County

of Wayne, State of Michigan, at the Inn' at st.' John's,
2006, commencing at or about the hour of 8:00 a.m.

44045 Five Mile Road, Plymouth, Michigan, on August 4,
APPEACES:
Keker & Van Nest, LLP
BY: 710 Sans

i:.

MR. MICHAL H. PAGE
orne Street

San Francisco, CA 94111-1704
[phone] Appearing on behalf of the Plaintiff.

Kelley Drye & Warren, LLP

BY: MR. PAUL W. GARITY
101 Park Avenue New. York, New York 10178 [phone] Appearing on behalf of the Defendants.

Cerfid Shorand ReoTters '
180 Montgomery Street, Suite 218

sai Fracisco, CA 94104
888-575-3376 · Fax [phone]

wwuslegaluppon.com

Los Angeles. Orange County. San Diego . Inland Empire. Ventura. San Jose. San Francisco . Sacramento. . . and across the nation

Case 5:03-cv-05340-JF

Document 188-12

Filed 09/07/2006

Page 3 of 11

1

American Blind aware of any other evidence of actual
customer confusion as a

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result of advertising 'on

Google?
A. We have, since Mr. Katzman left, we have,
wi th the new inqi vidu~ls processes in place to alert
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5 6 7
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me directly if they are aware or, receive any customer

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confusion issues as a result of paid advertising from

Google.

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Q. Okay, and have you; in fact, been alerted to
any customer confusion issues as a result of paid
advertising from GOQgle?
l i

10

11
12 13

A. Not since he left, no.
Q. Okay. Were you made aware of any before you
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left?
A.' No. Again, just, as I mentioned earlier, just
anecdotally from him.
(Mark l d for identification

16 17

18
19

was Deposition Exhibit No. i.)
Q. (BY MR. PAGE) This is a big ugly

exibit with

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21

hopefully very short questions. I want you to r~view
every page of this document.

22
23

I have marked as Alderm Exhibit i a
large and ugly document, Bates ABWF48864 through 48987,

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which appears to be a text dum from a data base of some

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sort.
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Document 188-12

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Page 4 of 11

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Can you tell me what this document is?

A. It looks like a bunch of gobbleygoop. Just
looking at the top of the page, it does

say Product

4 Surveys.
5
6 Sometime in the

Q. i will represent to you this was produced to us
last few days, and that is about all I

7 know about it.
8

A. Yeah. This is really -- you know, the product

9 surveys on the website is really handled by Michael

10 Layne.

Q. Unfortunately, I received this after his 12 deposition. So I am just trying to find out where it
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13 comes from.
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MR. GARITY: Absolutely. Do you mind if
we just go off the record for just a minute?
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MR. PAGE: Yeah, sure.. You may very well

17. know.
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THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Off the record,

19 8:54:28 a.m.

20 (Recess taken. t
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,

THE VIDEOGRAPHER: Back on the record,

22 9:05:44 a.m.
23

Q.

(BY MR. PAGE) Before we broke, we were looking

24 at Alderman Exhibit 1.

. 25 I think the question is, what is this?
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...: ;'~:.':'..;.:.." Document"':;,~""....;.~._.." ......._-~-.~-. 09/07/2006 188-12 Filed

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A. This is, by looking at the top of the page, a
product survey, which is on our website. Our product
categories on our website, we have surveys.
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That i S really a way for us to gather
customer feedback and' suggestions.
Q. I see. And is this -- it i S basica~ly a survey

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page that. s always on your website?
A. I, to be honest with you, don l t recall exactly

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when it went on the webs i te .
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i will tell you, however, since I have

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been there, it has been on the website.

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Q. Okay. Is there any -- do you offer any
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incentive to people to respond to the survey?

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A. ~.
Q. Do you -- how does a user come to know that the

16 survey exists?
17

A. Sure. We have a feedback form or a feedback
link on our

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the top -- I believe it i s the top right 19 hand of the website once you get into product pages.
18

20

Q. I see. And

so is it your experience that the

21 people who were completing this survey tend to be people
22 who have a complaint?
23 24

A. Not have a complaint, no.
Q. Is there a separate link on the website for

25 complaints; or if I have a complaint, would my normal
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'path be to click on feedback?

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A. We are extremely open in how we get feedback
from our customers. We have a Contact Us section of the
of, you

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;'i 4 website; and there is, you know, numerous types

5 know, topics that customers can

reply onto.

6

Q. What, if anything, is done with the data ¥ou

7 collect on this -- well, strike that.

8 First, is Exibit i all of the survey
9 informtion from -- i believe it starts January i, 2004,
10 and goes up it appears through a couple days ago, 11 July 28th, 2006.

12 The question is, is. this all of the
13 information that

you have collected on your website

14 survey in that period?

A. Sitting here today, at this table, I can't 16 answer if it's all the information. Just looking at,
15

17 agçiin,the dates that you just mentioned, it does look
18 like it covers that time period.

Q. Okay. Are there' -- are there multiple surveys 20 on your website or a single one?
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. 21
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A. No. There is multiple.
Q. How many different surveys are there on the

.23 website?
24

A. There are, I would say, two primary surveys.

25 One is what we are looking at here today, which is the
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1 product survey.

2 There are different questions for each
3 product category, and the other type of survey that i s
.

4 on the website is a customer survey.
5 6

Q. What is a customer survey?
A. A customer survey is just really a open

7 feedback form for customers to share, again, ideas

8 with us, comments, feedback, and such.
9

Q. If I go to your -- if I go to the American

10 Blind 'website, how would ,I -- how do I get to each of
11 the two surveys?
12

A. They are both -- well, first let i s start with
The product survey, again, is on our
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13 the product survey.
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15 product category pages. There is a link on those pages,
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a link to the survey. I should say a link to an
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17 opportunity to fill out the survey.

18 Obviously, from a customer service
. 19 company, we want to make sure we address true customer

20 service issues first; and so we try to filter those out

21 first.
. 22 So when they click on the product survey
.23 link, they are then taken to a page; and on that page,

24 they could click on different types of Contact Us links;
25 and at the bottom of that page is an opportunity to
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click on the survey and participate in the survey.

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Q. I see. And when you say the survey, that i s the
product survey?

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A. Yes.
Q. Okay. How about the customer survey?
A. The customer survey is, i believe, on our

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7 Contact Us page on the website.

8 Again, that is a link on our top nav of
9 the website, 'navigation of the website, or the bottom

10 navigation of the website, Contact USi and then there

11 . is a link to the survey at that point.
12

Q. And what sorts of questions are in the customer

1: survey?

14 A. Sitting ,here today, I don't recall the
15 questions. Primarily, the information here that you
16 would see from customers is an open-ended box in which

17 they can share ideas wi th us.
18

Q. What does American Blind do with this

19 information?
20

A. American Blinds captures this informtion and

21 it distributes it in spreadsheets on a weekly basis

22 to our management team.
23

Q. I see. So everybody in the management team

24 gets a spreadsheet of all of the survey înformation
25 everY week?

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A. For that week.
Q. I see, and then it's sort of up to the

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3 individual as to whether to read it and what to do
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with it?

A. That's correct.
Q. Okay. Do you make any use of that information, personally?
A. I do. I tell you, a lot of it is, i love you,
know, there is -- when I was writing

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7
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9 I hate you. You

10 the e-mail marketing program, as an example, we would
11 get, you know, some cus tomers that use the surveyor

12 Contact Us forms to say, "Please, take me off of your

13 e-mail mailing list," and I did use the survey at that 14 time.

15 I do read the surveys when I have time at
16 this point; and, again, it's up to the individual 17 members on that list to read the surveys.
18

Q. When you say that management team, who are you

19 referring to?
20 21

A. On that distribution list, in particular, you
know, i would

on our management team, we have
Joel Levine, Ron Myers, Bill Tufts,

22 Bruce Burger,

23 Michael Layne, Martha Ross, Angie Sustarich and, I
24 believe, Greg Ruppért.
25

Q. Okay. You can put that aside.
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CERTIFICATE OF NOTARY

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STATE OF MICHIGAN
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ss.
COUNY OF OAKLAN
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I, Lana

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Kia Haws, Certified
Notary Public in and for the

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Shorthand Reporter and

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above county and state, do hereby certify that the

deposition of JEFFREY A. ALDERM was taken before me
at the time and place hereinbefore set forth; that

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the witness was by me first duly sworn to testify
to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth; that thereupon the foregoing questions were asked and foregoing answers made by the witness

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which were duly recorded by me stenographically and
later reduced to computer transcription; and I certify

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'19 that this is a true and correct transcript of my

20 stenographic notes qso taken.
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I further certify that I am not Of
Counsel to either party nor int~rested in the event

of

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thi's cause.

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La . Haws, CM,'RPR,' CSR-0995

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Notary Public
State of Michigan
County of Oakland'

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Acting in the County of Wayne

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My Commis'sion Expires:

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September 29, 2011

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CHAPA & GIBLIN
[phone]

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