Google (NSDQ: GOOG) should be allowed to continue selling brand names as search keywords because it isn’t infringing corporate trademarks, according to a senior European judge. Advocate General Poiares Maduro — an advisor to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Europe’s highest court — said in a ruling on Tuesday that “Google has not infringed trademark rights by allowing advertisers to buy keywords corresponding to registered trade marks.” Court ruling.
Since last year, Google France has been pursued through French courts and now in the ECJ by three businesses, including fashion label Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH, on grounds of trademark infringement — but today’s intervention by such an influential legal figure leaves the duel clearly in Google’s favour. The search company was found guilty of trademark infringement earlier this year — according to the ECJ document — by the Coer de cassation court in France, but the case was referred upwards to the ECJ after Google appealed. The Luxembourg-based ECJ will now rule on the case and is bound to be heavily influenced by Maduro’s unambiguous views.
Louis Vuitton and company are unhappy about imitation goods retailers bidding for the official keyword and coming in search queries, therefore giving dodgy goods an air of authenticity. But Maduro rejects their complaints and argues that Google’s algorithms are entirely objective, adding that in any case trademarks can only apply when something is being sold: “There is no good or service sold to the general public,” he says. “The use is limited to a selection procedure which is internal to AdWords and concerns only Google and the advertisers.” Maduro warns that ruling in the brands’ favour would “establish an absolute right of control over… whatever could be shown and said in cyberspace with respect to the good or service associated with the trade mark.”
But despite this latest setback in its campaign, LMVH is adamant that Google could still face criminal action. The company said in a statement (via Reuters.com): “The use of a brand that gives Google an undue advantage in its business means that Google can be brought to national courts for both legal and criminal cases.”

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