Google has asked a US judge to rule that keyword-based
advertisements on the web search engine do not violate trademark
law.
Google the court to rule that it was not violating the
trademarks of American Blind and Wallpaper Factory by selling
keyword-based advertising to the company's rivals.
In July 2002, American Blind and Wallpaper's lawyer sent Google
a letter accusing it of violating its trademarks through the use of
more than 35 keyword combinations, including "american wallpaper
discount", and "decoratetoday.com".
"Many of [American Blind's] competitors have exploited the
notoriety and success of [American Blind], and flagrantly attempted
to confuse consumers and capitalise illegally on [Amercian Blind's]
goodwill and reputation by purchases identical and substantially
similar keywords from search engines," Joe Charno, American Blind's
vice president of marketing, advertising and e-commerce wrote in a
letter to Google on 11 July.
That letter demanded that Google immediately stop selling
keyword-based ads similar to American Blind's trademarks to a
competing vendor of blinds. "In the event our request is not
complied with in the next seven days, we will have no choice but to
involve our legal department," Charno wrote.
An e-mail dated 12 November from American Blind to Google also
threatened a trademark lawsuit similar to one brought against
Google by French handbag seller Louis Vuitton in August.
In October, French travel firms Viaticum and Luteciel sued
Google's French subsidiary for trademark violation and together won
€75,000.
Google's 26 November court filing asks the judge to rule that
its keyword-triggered advertising does not violate trademarks, as
well as court costs in the American Blind trademark dispute. Its
lawyers argued in their complaint that terms such as "blind",
"wallpaper" and "factory" are descriptive and should not enjoy
trademark protection.
Google issued a statement on Friday, which said, "Google filed
this action because we were being threatened with an imminent
lawsuit by American Blind and Wallpaper Factory. We seek to have
the court confirm our view that this methodology properly respects
trademark owners' rights while at the same time simplifying the ad
targeting process for our advertisers. Such a decision will
ultimately benefit the online advertising industry at large, as
well as Google."
Grant Gross writes for IDG News Service