Can Companies Use Trademark Lawsuits To Find Out What Keywords Competitors Are Buying?

from the sneaky,-sneaky dept

We've been covering many ridiculous attempts by companies to sue Google because competitors buy keyword ads based on trademarked terms. As we've pointed out, over and over again, this shouldn't be illegal (trademark law doesn't mean a competitor can't use your brand in an ad), and even if the ad does violate trademarks, it shouldn't be Google's issue, but the advertiser's. However, one company is apparently trying to use just such a lawsuit not just to make Google pay up, but to get Google to reveal all sorts of information on who else had bought ads based on its trademark -- which would seem to be pretty valuable information for any company. Google, thankfully, is resisting the request, but the company is still demanding it. As Eric Goldman notes in the link above, if this is allowed, you can expect to see many more of these lawsuits, not to try to squeeze money out of Google, but to find out how much their competitors are spending on keyword ads.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: keywords, trademark
Companies: google


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Search* Engines WEB, 13 Nov 2007 @ 9:11pm

    If that company was so concerned - they would have monitored Google themselves to see what companies where using their brand names in ads.

    They could have outsourced or did a search periodically for the company's brand or the competitive keywords associated with their products or services.

    They did not think to do this, now they want Google to do their work for them.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    boomhauer (profile), 13 Nov 2007 @ 9:53pm

    uh yeah

    or just run some of their own ads and see how much it costs to get to the front of the pack. not that hard..

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • Google should resist.

    Would you sue a newspaper that ran an ad using your "trademark" in an advertisement? I think not.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.