EU Court Adviser: Allow Google To Sell Trademarked Keywords
September 22 2009 - 4:34AM
Dow Jones News
Online search giant Google Inc. (GOOG) should be able to
continue allowing rival advertisers to use the trademarks of
well-known companies such as LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton
(MC.FR) as search keywords, according to a legal opinion prepared
for Europe's highest court, released Tuesday.
"Google has not infringed trademark rights by allowing
advertisers to buy keywords corresponding to registered
trademarks," said the court's Advocate General Poiares Maduro.
However, Google may be liable for featuring content in its
adwords program that directly violates trademarks, Maduro
added.
Google is before the ECJ in connection with a French case where
a number of companies including Louis Vuitton complained that
Google had infringed their trademark rights.
Google currently allows other companies, often less well-known,
to use trademarks of famous companies as keywords. When a user
searches for one of these trademarked words the search engine will
bring up rival products or companies selling counterfeits of the
known brands under "sponsored links" alongside the actual search
results.
The French court hearing the case, the Cour de Cassation, is
asking ECJ to rule on whether trademark owners can legally prevent
Google from selling the right to use their trademarks as
keywords.
-By Mike Gordon, Dow Jones Newswires; +352 691 180 766;
mgordon.dowjones@gmail.com (Peppi Kiviniemi contributed to this
article)