Jurisdiction on Google ads was extended by a further aspect
recently. The case at issue, however, did not relate to
"keyword advertising" (third-party trademarks as search
term), but dealt with the question as to whether and how a
third-party trademark may appear within a Google ad.
Ortlieb, a manufacturer of bike bags,and Amazon, well known to
the Federal Court of Justice and to each other from past trademark
disputes, argued about these issues. It was only recently that the
Federal Court of Justice had remitted the dispute about the use of
the Ortlieb trademark within Amazon's internal search function
to Munich Higher Regional Court.
This time, however, the case concerned the use of the trademark
in advertisements placed by Amazon in the following form:
