Google Trademark Protection

31.03.2009 Posted in Search

Earlier this month the latest round of the Google vs LVMH (Louis Vuitton) kicked off in the European Courts (‘Google in Court Over Vuitton Row’, BBC News, 17th March 2009′).

LVMH has been pursuing the case for some months, initially through the French courts. It asserts that people searching on its brand terms may see ads for competitors and possibly counterfeiters.

Those familiar with AdWords will be aware that Google relaxed its trademark policies in the UK and Europe in May 2008. Under the revised policies, advertisers may run ads against trademarked terms but may not use such terms in the text of their ads unless they have the permission of the trademark owner.

I’m not a lawyer, but the case seems fairly clear-cut to me. Unquestionably, Google has a duty to ensure that all of the advertising it carries - including the use of brand terms within such advertising - is not misleading. This is clearly in Google’s interests, as well as those of tradmark owners. Google users don’t want to click on a link expecting a particular result (e.g. to be directed to the Louis Vuitton website) only to discover that they are taken somewhere different. Trademark owners are also entitled to know that their brands are not being misrepresented.

LVMH does not, meanwhile, own Google’s website or have the right to dictate to Google how information should be presented on it (notwithstanding the considerations above). To draw a parallel from a more established medium, consider the printed press. Any magazine is entitled (within reason) to publish an article on LVMH, and run adverts alongside if it so wishes. Trademark owners do not have the right to dicate to the magazine publisher the context in which brand may appear, provided any information is factually correct.

Admittedly, search advertising is a little different in that the results page is generated in response to a specific user query, and that query may be a trademarked term. No matter. Google may respond to this query in whatever way it deems appropriate. If that response includes ads from other companies, that’s up to them.