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ARTICLE · 21 AUGUST 2002

Trade Mark Infringement By Metatags

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A recent case in England has confirmed that using another's trade name or mark in a metatag is still an infringement of that trade mark even though that trade mark did not appear in the website or in any search results. It also went further than previous cases by stating that the statutory defence of using one's own name did not apply when using the trade name in metatags.

Hong KongIntellectual Property
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By David Ellis (partner) and Agnes Wong (consultant)

Summary

A recent case in England has confirmed that using another's trade name or mark in a metatag is still an infringement of that trade mark even though that trade mark did not appear in the website or in any search results. It also went further than previous cases by stating that the statutory defence of using one's own name did not apply when using the trade name in metatags.

Reed Executive plc & Reed Solutions plc v Reed Business Information Limited, Reed Elsevier (UK) Limited & totaljobs.com Limited (2002).

Full Article

Metatags are hidden pieces of HTML (hypertext markup language) code usually used on website home pages to describe the contents of the site for the benefit of search engines which search by the metatags as one method of producing search results. Metatag abuse is usually where one site contains the names of its competitors in its metatags to throw up positive search results and

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