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Google Ads Cause Lawsuit For Yahoo 
By: Doug Caverly 2006-06-16 Search engines have been sued time and time again over the sale of advertisements based on trademarked keywords. To resolve these cases, Google and Yahoo took different approaches, with the former holding out and the latter settling quickly. Now, a strange thing has come to pass: Yahoo is being sued over its Google ads. After settling the lawsuits it faced related to trademarked terms, Yahoo vowed to stop selling ads based on those keywords. But the company bought ads based on the name of a competing dating website from Google, and now that site is suing Yahoo for trademark infringement. The past cases arose from blurry understandings of trademark law. Trademarks only act to identify brands to consumers. A competitor who advertises on the basis of a trademarked term is not (strictly speaking) pretending to be the searched-for brand; the competitor is only offering their contending service or product. Google, although it eventually settled in the lawsuit against it, stuck to this definition of trademark law and has continued to sell advertising based on trademarked keywords, which brings us back to the present case. The competing dating site that is suing Yahoo claims the ads are causing confusion among its customers (and potential, as-of-yet unclaimed consumers). It seems generally agreed that this argument wouldn't hold up in court. But where both Yahoo and Google have backed down in the past, it's possible Yahoo will settle the case. But if the company selects that path, it should be aware it will probably only lead to more lawsuits in the future. Add to | DiggThis | Yahoo! My Web Technorati: Trademarked keywords About the Author: Doug is a staff writer for SearchNewz, WebProNews, InternetFinancialNews, and SecurityProNews. |
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