German court seeks guidance over adwords
26 January 2009
Managing Intellectual Property
A German court has asked the European Court of Justice to clarify whether using a trade mark as a keyword for internet advertising amounts to trade mark infringement
The case has the potential to make or break Google’s AdWords business model in Europe.
According to a press release issued by the Bundesgerichtshof (German Federal Court), it decided three cases on January 22, all involving AdWords where an advertiser buys another’s company name or trade mark, and has its own advertisement displayed alongside the search results for that term.
But each of the cases had slightly different facts.
One involved a highly distinctive trade mark, one a weaker descriptive trade mark and one a company name.
The first case involved a trade mark, Bananabay, registered for adult entertainment, which was being used by a competitor as a...
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