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ARTICLE · 15 MARCH 2011

Ignorance Is Bliss For Google - 26 April 2010

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Google has escaped liability for multiple claims of trade mark infringement through its AdWord application, much to the dismay of trade mark owners.

United KingdomIntellectual Property
Nick Kounoupias
Nick Kounoupias

Google has escaped liability for multiple claims of trade mark infringement through its AdWord application, much to the dismay of trade mark owners.

Google operates a paid referencing service called 'AdWords' which enables businesses to reserve "keywords" and appear as a sponsored link on a search results page. These sponsored links are displayed either on the right hand side of the results page or above the natural search results.

A fee for the referencing service is payable by the advertiser for each click and advertisers who reserve the same keyword are listed in descending order according to the amount paid to Google. To facilitate the AdWord application, Google set up an automated process for the selection of keywords and the creation of ads so that businesses have control over the text included on the sponsored link.

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