In September 2006, Internet giant Google, Inc. scored another legal victory for its controversial "AdWords" program. In Rescuecom Corp. v. Google, Inc., 2006 WL 2811711 (N.D.N.Y. 2006), the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York ruled that Google’s practice of selling trademarked words and phrases as keywords does not constitute trademark "use" under the Lanham Act and, thus, is not trademark infringement for purposes of federal law.
Under its AdWords program, Google allows advertisers to bid on terms (keywords) that Internet users might enter when searching for Web sites using the Google search engine. When a user enters the advertiser’s keyword, Google prominently displays a link to the advertiser’s Web site as part of the search result. Controversy has arisen because advertisers participating in the AdWords program can pay for the right to use a competitor’s trademark as a keyword.
