Google Required To Remove Ads That Violate Trademarks, Indian Court Rules

The Delhi High Court has ruled that Google's Ads program falls under the purview of the country's Trademarks Act and the company must remove ads that infringe upon trademarks in a major decision that may redefine online advertising's legal landscape. From a report: The decision), delivered by a division bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Amit Mahajan last week, observed that Google was an "active participant" in the use of the trademarks of proprietors. Google's practice of suggesting competitors' trademarks as keywords to advertisers yielded significant profits for the search giant via keyword sales. This case was spurred by a complaint from logistics firm DRS, which pointed out that searches for its trademark "Agarwal Packers and Movers" returned competitor websites. DRS alleged that Google's ad mechanism exploited its trademark to divert users to rival sites. Upholding the initial order, the division bench directed Google to act on DRS's grievances and remove offending ads.

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[Maury Markowitz]

This is basically the entire basis of their advertising bid-per-show. Sure, some people bid on "garbage removal", but most counterprogram their competition as well. If this catches on...

Re:

[CaptQuark]

It seems like any company that uses common words in their business name and tries to claim trademark status of that phrase should be denied.

If a company calls itself "Seattle drywall installers" and claims trademark status on that phrase, they shouldn't be surprised when Google returns other businesses when users search for that phrase.

If Google can show that searches for "Agarwal Packers and Movers" and "Packers and Movers Agarwal" return the same results, the judge should rule against trademark infringeme

Google cannot prove that

[Anonymous Cward]

This is not a case of the ANDing of words resulting in a complaint about generic Google search results. This is a case about Google Ads, which relies upon more than just what you type into the box for an individual search query. Due to personalisation, it is likely that location-based checks, prior search history, ads which have previously been clicked on have influenced the ads which appeared for the complainant.

I personally would love to see online advertising platforms be held liable for this and many

Plutocrats need to shake their pluuty

[Tablizer]

Seems their plutocrats have yet to bribe enough law makers and courts to have a "business friendly atmosphere". Is that being "behind the USA"? Either way, "behind" is appropriate.

Will that apply to physical venues as well?

[jonadab]

By extension, does this mean it will be illegal (in India) for stores to print coupons with your receipt, for products that directly compete with the ones you actually purchased?

Re:

[suutar]

Doubtful, unless said coupon includes the name of the product you did purchase as well; it's too easy to say "they bought something from category 1233, so they got a coupon for a thing from category 1233".

Good

[bhcompy]

This is a hell of a decision, and makes complete sense in the same fashion that a bar advertising the "Super Bowl" in the US is violating trademarks. Obviously Indian law and jurisprudence is different, but it's a big market, and Google relies heavily on exploiting data that could/should be protected in some fashion to make the vast amounts of money it does.

Re: Good

[Kitkoan]

Sounds more like if you asked the bar if they have the Superbowl on, and they tell you they have College football on, that they can be sued for infringement by Superbowl.

Re:

[bloodhawk]

no, the issue is that the bar got paid to dish up college football whenever someone specifically requested the Superbowl.

Re:

[bhcompy]

You're using a trademarked name in advertising for your own gain (the bar in this instance posts a banner saying they're showing the Super Bowl, not the "big game"). The fact that you're selling space to other advertisers for counter-advertising isn't really important because you've still got a big banner using the term Super Bowl as a way to solicit others to give you money