In Venture Tape Corp. v. McGills Glass Warehouse, 540 F.3d 56 (1st Cir. 2008), a case where a company embedded a competitor’s trademarks in its website via metatags and invisible white-on-white text, the First Circuit held that the company infringed its competitor’s marks and upheld the district court’s award of $230,339, representing the defendant’s estimated […]
Entries Tagged as 'Keywords'
Manufacturer pays out $426,000 in damages and attorneys fees as a result of engaging in a useless exercise
October 3rd, 2008 · No Comments
American Airlines settles its action against Google
July 25th, 2008 · No Comments
In what many see as yet another victory for Google and defeat for trademark advocates, American Airlines has settled its action against Google on undisclosed terms, with both sides paying their own legal fees.
In a lawsuit filed in August 2007, American Airlines claimed that Google violated its trademark rights by allowing competitors to bid on […]
Eastern District of Kentucky holds that search engine keyword-buys might be a use in commerce
February 20th, 2008 · No Comments
In a recent case, T.D.I. International, Inc. v. Golf Preservations, Inc., No. 6:07-313-DCR, 2008 WL 294531 (E.D. Ky. Jan. 31, 2008), the Eastern District of Kentucky held, however cautiously, that keyword advertising might be a Lanham Act “use in commerce,” thereby declining to dismiss the Lanham Act claims there at issue.
In T.D.I. International, […]
American Airlines sues Google over keyword-triggered advertisements.
September 6th, 2007 · No Comments
American Airlines has sued Google over keyword-triggered advertisements. In light of the issues discussed in the previous post, bringing this case outside of the Second Circuit was a wise move. However, even if the complained-of use of the marks is considered a “use in commerce” American Airlines still has a tough case to win. Some […]
Second Circuit district courts still at odds with courts in other circuits as to whether buying keywords is a “use in commerce” under the Lanham Act
July 30th, 2007 · No Comments
Purchasing keywords in a search engine’s advertising program to gain a higher search result in the search engine’s sponsored links listings has become commonplace for businesses seeking to reach new consumers. An example of such a program is Google’s AdWords program. AdWords is a keyword-activated advertising program that generates the Sponsored Links section on Google’s […]