Yet Another Keyword Advertising Suit... And Yet Another Ruling That Keyword Ads Don't Violate Trademarks
from the please-make-it-stop dept
We're beginning to get quite sick of companies claiming that having a trademark give them total control over a trademarked phrase. That's simply not true and never has been true. Yet it shows up all the time in the ever popular lawsuits over keyword advertisements. Over and over again the courts have shown that it's perfectly fine to use a competitor's trademarked phrase or name as a keyword to put up a competitive ad. The latest such case highlights an important point. While many of the cases have argued that using a keyword isn't "use in commerce," (a key part in determining if a trademark has been violated) this ruling found that it actually was used in commerce... but it still didn't matter because just because you own a trademark doesn't mean you can prevent all uses of it. You can only prevent uses that are likely to confuse potential customers over who is actually selling what, or that will dilute your brand. That's not the case when someone is simply putting up a competitive ad -- and it's nice to see a court recognize that fact.
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Filed Under: keyword ads, trademarks
Companies: ebay
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Google adds to the confusion
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I play a mmo where it is against the EULA / TOS to buy/sell in game items or accounts.
If I run a google search, the paid ads are for sites that illegally sell items. As these sites send massive amounts of in-game spam, I would like to see them restricted.
Hard when google links to them...
As an aside, one of our staff did a goggle search, clicked one of the paid ads, only to get a drive-by download of a nasty trojan.
I think google could be a tad more diligent in whom it makes profit from (advertisers).
I for one will NEVER again click a google paid advert, nor will anyone in my office.
That is the imapct of google's lack of diligence.
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