February 07, 2005
google gets sued a lot (link)
http://www.linksandlaw.com/adwords-pendinglawsuits.htm
Google's AdWords service allows advertisers to sponsor particular search terms. Whenever that term is searched the advertiser’s link will appear next to the search results. A company can choose a trademark protected term as keyword. So if you enter "trademark protected term" in the Google search box and hit "Search", you would get listings from advertisers who paid for placement with this keyword. Google puts those listings off to the right side of the screen, clearly marked as ads. Trademark owners are concerned about their brand awareness and insist that this behaviour violates their trademarks.
Yet another case of attacks consolidated on the facilitator instead of the actual perpetrator.
Posted by yargevad at February 7, 2005 01:25 PM