Loius Vuitton has been trying to outlaw Google’s ability to allow any advertiser to use copyrighted trademarks as part of their Adwords keyword campaigns. The latest interim legal opinion has come out against Loius Vuitton.

In 2005 LVHM (owners of Louis Vuitton) appealed against Google in a French court. Their argument was that many companies were using their branded keywords in order to sell replica goods and that this was undermining not only their reputation but also their sales. They won the case and took their argument to the European Commission.

On 22nd September 2008, in a long line of legal battles, the European Court of Justice admitted that although there was a link established when a company used a branded keyword that this was not enough to deem the action an infringement of copyright.

The European Commission advocate-general, Poiares Maduro said that:

‘Google has not committed a trademark infringement by allowing advertisers to select, in AdWords, keywords corresponding to trademarks.

‘Such a use cannot therefore be considered as being a use made in relation to goods or services identical or similar to those covered by the trademarks. Similarly, advertisers themselves do not commit a trademark infringement by selecting in Adwords keywords corresponding to trademarks.’

‘Internet users are aware that not only the site of the trademark owner will appear as a result of a search in Google’s search engine and sometimes they may not even be looking for that site.

‘These users will only make an assessment as to the origin of the goods or services advertised on the basis of the content of the ad and by visiting the advertised sites; no assessment will be based solely on the fact that the ads are displayed following the entry of keywords corresponding to trademarks.’

The use of keywords does not imply the purchase of counterfeit goods. On the other hand it could be argued that the public expect keyword searches to deliver accurate information. And over and above that should Google and the other search engines promote illegal activities by allowing sites that are committing crimes to appear in the searches? If you type fake Louis Vuitton into Google you get a whole host of sites offering to sell you counterfeit goods and this applies if you search just for Louis Vuitton too.

Ebay no longer allow sellers to use keywords that do not represent the true articles being sold. If you search for Vuitton bags today you will find no sellers at all for this item.

A final verdict is expected to be delivered early in 2010.

Tags: Adword, keyword campaigns, keyword search, keyword searches, Keywords, Louis Vuitton, Search Engine

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 7:37 am and is filed under Google, Keywords, Search Engines, Search Marketing, ebranding, global branding, online branding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.