Tempur regularly litigates against competitors who are using the
designation 'Tempur' in their advertising campaigns. When a
competitor buys the adword 'Tempur' from Google,
advertisements and banners of this competitor appear on top of and
next to the ordinary search results when the term 'Tempur'
is searched for in Google. Is this allowed? Which circumstances
play a role here?
Recently (in Dutch) the Court of The Hague
allowed all Tempur's claims against a competitor. This was not
surprising, because the defendant did not put up a substantive
defence. The defendant may not use the designation 'Tempur'
anymore, not even as an AdWord. On the other hand, at the end of
2011 the Court of Appeal of The Hague rejected (in Dutch) Tempur's claims
in another legal action instituted by Tempur against Medicomfort.
This judgment was rendered in a defended action and dovetails with
case law of the European Court of Justice. This judgment of the
Court of Appeal of The Hague
