Web Design And Marketing

When you are king of the hill, you have a lot of lawsuits, and Google is no exception. I wonder how successful they are at finding attorneys that are legally and Internet savvy. Either way, Google’s AdWords program is being challenged in court because advertisers can purchase keywords and phrases that are trademarked. For example, Mazda can purchase the keyword Pontiac, and run Mazda text ads whenever someone searches for Pontiac. This was actually done in 2006 during Pontiacs “Google Pontiac” TV commercial campaign.

Needless to say, marketers who invest heavily in branding and their trademarks are not happy about this. Plus, due to US trademark law; companies must defend their trademarks in order to protect them (Bayer lost its right to Asprin because it was found to not have protected the trademark). So the question becomes, how will companies protect their brands and trademarks in this type of situation. Brandweek reports that both Geico and Louis Vuitton have sued Google over this issue. The premise is that Google is selling trademarks that they do not own. However Google is taking the position that the trademarks are not displayed and therefore infringement does not occur.

Come November, Google will have to stand trial in a California court over this very issue. American Blind & Wallpaper factory has alleged that Google sold their brand names to its competitors. If the results determine that Google’s actions cause consumers confusion or infringe on trademarks, it could lead to a ban on trademark sales in AdWords.

Filed by admin at 4:37 pm under Search Engine Marketing