Google has to pay up regarding trademarks in France

Wed 4 February 2009 12:35, Editors

Google has been experimenting with its Adwords keyword policy. Google’s aim was to get more out of brand advertising than they did before. To get that result they changed the rules last year so you can bid on trademarked or branded terms which you do not own.

The rules were already applicable in the US but when Google applied those rules also for Europeans immediately British brands threatened to sue Google. Now in France a court ruled Google was wrong to do this and ordered Google to pay € 350.000.

The French court came to its actions after Louis Vuitton, Moet, Hennessy and Meridien Hotels objected and two companies, Voyageurs du Monde (Travellers of the World) and Terres d'Aventure (Lands of Adventure) saw adds appear of competitors on their company-names.

Google is appealing to the decision. It states “Google's terms and conditions make clear that advertisers are responsible for their choice of keywords and warn against their unauthorised use. Google believes that our advertising services comply with French and European law on online advertising.”

Things are now up to the European courts. A German court asked the European court last week to rule on two other disputes with the same issue.

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