Managing Intellectual Property

Google suffers setback in AdWords case

06 April 2009

Eileen McDermott, New York

In a long-awaited judgment with far-reaching implications for the protection of trade marks on the internet, a US appeals court has reversed a lower court’s dismissal of Rescuecom’s trade mark infringement claims against Google

In 2004, Rescuecom, a company that offers on-site computer services and sales, accused Google of trade mark infringement, false designation of origin and trade mark dilution for allowing Rescuecom's competitors to purchase its trade mark as a keyword in Google's AdWords programme.

The AdWords programme allows advertisers to purchase certain keywords that will trigger their ads when a Google user conducts a search for that keyword.

Rescuecom claims that Google suggested its trade mark to its competitors as a keyword, causing the searcher...



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