CJ sets outs AdWords defence in Portakabin case
09 July 2010
James Nurton and Fionn O'Raghallaigh, London
Europe’s highest court has struck another blow for advertisers in its latest decision concerning trade mark infringement in Google’s AdWords programme
Ruling yesterday in a referral from the Netherlands, the Court of Justice of the EU said that use of another’s trade mark as a keyword in online advertising can be prohibited by the trade mark owner under Article 5 of the Trade Marks Directive.
But it added that, in the case of a reseller, the advertiser may have a defence under Article 7 of the Directive, which concerns exhaustion of trade mark rights.
The questions arose in a case before the Hoge Raad der Nederlanden (Supreme Court of the Netherlands) between brand owner Portakabin and advertiser Primakabin, which had bought the keywords portakabin,...
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