Is someone using Google Adwords containing your trademark or business name? Do you think you have a good case for trademark infringement because of it? You may want to re-think taking action. A recent U.S. District Court case in Colorado (2013 WL 1900562 (D. Colo. May 7, 2013)) held that merely purchasing keywords from Google that match the name of a competitor is insufficient to prove likelihood that consumers would be confused between the two companies despite ads that appear on Google resulting from a search of the keywords. As Eric Goldman’s review of the case notes, courts are looking beyond the mere ads that appear on Google. The court says “the connection between the search term entered and the appearance of an advertisement is too attenuated to suggest an actual affiliation between the two [companies].”
This seems to go against what trademark law requires to prove infringement. Trademark infringement requires that you need only show a “likelihood of confusion” – not actual confusion. Eric Goldman cites several cases showing that the trend is against trademark holders and more in favor of advertisers. I’m not sure if this is such a good ruling based on the potential for abuse by advertisers.