Google Wins Trademark Ad Lawsuit

Forbes.com

"Google Inc. won a major legal victory Wednesday when a federal judge said the search engine could continue to sell ads triggered by searches using trademarked company names.

U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema rejected a claim by auto insurance giant Geico Corp., which argued that Google should not be allowed to sell ads to rival insurance companies that appear whenever Geico's name is typed into the Google search box...

But Brinkema said the case would continue to move forward on one remaining issue, whether ads that pop up and actually use Geico in their text violate trademark law. Google contends that its policies expressly forbid advertisers from using trademark names in the text of their ads. The search engine says it does its best to prevent ads that violate the policy from sneaking in, and that the advertisers would liable for any trademark violation, not Google.

Brinkema said she would halt the trial at this point to put a decision in writing and she encouraged both parties to try and settle the remaining issues."

So it appears the trademark can be bought by anyone as "keyword" but not used in the text shown in the ad....

CBS Marketwatch

Add details to coverage of the case:

"Geico claimed that Google shouldn't let rival insurers buy the Geico name, because customers become confused when they type in 'Geico' into the keyword box and receive links to competing services and rivals. 'There is no evidence that that activity alone causes confusion,' said Brinkema, according to the Associated Press."

Commenting about a related case yet to be heard "David Rammelt, an attorney at Kelley Drye & Warren, which represents American Blind added:

"The judge recognized that the allegations Geico raised valid claims for trademark dilution and trademark infringement...the broader impact of this case is that it will vary on case by case as to whether or not individual companies can show confusion or the likelihood of confusion of those companies."

In the motion to dismiss the Geico case, Google wrote: "Imagine, for example, that Ford wants to target its advertising at Toyota customers. Ford goes to magazines such as Car and Driver and pays to have a full-page Ford ad face every Toyota review the magazine prints that year.

"Ford is aware that many of the readers of those ads go to those pages looking for information about Toyotas. After all, that is precisely the point: Ford wants to target its ads at its competitors' customers and prospective customers, and win those customers," the company argued. "