CJ sets outs AdWords defence in Portakabin case
09 July 2010
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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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