Appeals Court Rules Against Google On Keyword Ads

Eric Goldman writes "The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Google in Rescuecom v. Google (PDF), a trademark infringement lawsuit over Google's keyword advertising practices. The court said: 'The Complaint's allegations that Google's recommendation and sale of Rescuecom's mark to Google's advertisers, so as to trigger the appearance of their advertisements and links in a manner likely to cause consumer confusion when a Google user launches a search of Rescuecom's trademark, properly alleges a claim under the Lanham Act.' While this result hampers Google's ability to end trademark lawsuits early, the case is still at an early stage and Google could still win."

Seen the results in action already.

[palegray.net]

I use Google Adwords for targeted marketing campaigns. Try using any well-known trademark in a new campaign; as of a month ago, they started getting much more aggressive about filtering these out. You can't save an ad unit if it contains trademarked phrases. I don't have any problem with this, aside from cases where you're using the trademark with permission. At some point I'm probably going to wind up emailing the Adwords team about cases like this, offering written verification of license to use such terms.

Re:Let's make a comparison...

[AgNO3]

That is such a flawed argument. Its more like Mc Donalds running an ad saying there is a Burger King at such and such address but their isn't a Burger King there is a Mc D's. Its not up to Google to decide to help a company that doesn't want its help. Company B doesn't have the right to use Company A's built and paid for reputation for their gain.