Judge lets American lawsuit against Google go ahead This would affect Adwords users that use a company name as a keyword. This would really suck! More..
Yeah, if American Airlines can't win against Google, not many could. However, if they do win, it would not be good for advertisers.
I doubt AA will actually win... Google will probably reach a settlement outside of court... This might still hurt advertisers though...
youre no longer allowed to use names like this. Most all company names that arent itty bitty auto come up as not allowed when you make a new ad.
Trust me, this case WILL go to trial, AA, specifically put a note in their 2nd QRT filings commenting that they expect to spend a SUBSTANTIAL amount of money in litigation that may impact their 4th quarter net revenue numbers. That doesn't sound like a company who is looking to reach an "out of court settlement."
Why do you (or anyone else) think American Airlines has a case when Google has already won every other case like this they have faced. Is there something different about this case?
Funny like these big companies cannot see beyond the tip of their nose; advertisers using their name in their adwords ads is not that bad if you consider the branding effect...
Competitors bidding on your TM (or using it in ads to promote competing products) doesn't help with branding...at all.
What most people fail to realize is that ALL these previous "victories" by Google were mostly decided in no-trial presettlement conferences. Few of these cases went to trial. The AA case is going to trial (let's just say I am familar with the case and leave it at that). You get a sympathetic jury (this won't be a bench trial) THEY COULD WIN -- that's the beauty of it. I would follow-it closely. AA brought in some top notch talent to fight the case, they specifically are looking to draw a line in the sand with Google and may have more success in their case, then has occurred in the past. But again, this is just my opinion.
Additional info/commentary: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2007/08/american_airlin.htm & on an older but related case Google Victory In American Blinds Settlement Over Trademark-Triggered Search Ads
I don't understand why Google is allowing the use of American Airlines trademarks, yet they continue to ban the use of many others. Shoemoney just got trademarked and Google disallowed that term in Adwords.
In the US and Canada Google allows anyone to bid on any TM they want...they just can't use it in the ad copy. I can bid on the term "shoemoney" until the sun comes up but will not be allowed to use it in my ad copy. It's actually a pretty effective practice. When you can't use the word you're bidding on in the ad copy you'll end up with a dismal QS which translates into excessive minimum bids which will price most of the space in relative short order. My understanding of the AA case is that their stance is people should not even be permitted to bid on the term. That could get messy on many levels. Last year I was working on a TM issue with a "general term" and received the following from Google: My hunch is that without a doubt applies to "American Airlines"...both of which are definitely general terms. I'm no lawyer though...we'll just have to wait and see how it shakes out.