- The significant decision has power and could change the landscape of online advertising, The Dehli High Court has decided that The Google ads program comes under the purview of the trademark act, meaning the search engine giant’s use of a trademark as a keyword constitutes ‘use’ under the the act
- A lack of trademark protection is the main reason for this absurd situation
- DRS claimed that Google’s ad mechanism violates its trademark to divert users to competing websites
The Dehli High Court has taken action and ruled that Google’s ad program comes under the purview of the trademark act. The biggest search giant’s use of trademarks as keywords amount to use under the act, in an important decision that may redefine online advertising’s legal landscape.
Google was considered an active participant in using trademarks directly belonging to owners, according to the judgment PDF issued by a division bench of Justice Amit Mahajan last week. Google has made a massive amount from keyword sales as a result of the practice of recommending trademarks of rival companies to advertisers.
The case was brought into consideration by logistics firm DRS, by launching a complaint that pointed out that searches for its trademark ‘Agarwal Packers and Movers’ returned competitor websites. according to DRS, Google’s ad mechanism exploited its trademark to divert users to rival sites.
In addition, the division bench upheld the initial order and instructed Google to address DRS and reply to their queries and concerns and remove offensive ads. The decision suggests that online services like Google must continually develop new systems to address ongoing trademark issues.
Nithin Kamath, founder and chief executive of well-known trading platform Zerodha states that ‘One of the worst ways to spend money as a business is to advertise against your keywords’.
In addition, he also said, “Businesses do this because if they don’t, competitors who advertise for their keywords show up above them in search results. So if you search for Zerodha, an ad from a competitor might show up above the organic search result. Many times these ads can be deceiving as well. This perverse situation was the result of the lack of trademark protection.”
Though it has given alarms to many search engines to think before making any kind of content. The court decides that Google is not a ‘passive intermediary’ but runs an advertisement business. Through which it has ‘pervasive control’ which results in a significant blow to the biggest tech giant.
The beach rule says, “Merely because the said business is run online and is dovetailed with its service as an intermediary, does not entitle Google to the benefit of Section 79(1) of the IT (Information Technology) Act, in so far as the Ads Programme is concerned”.
Although, Google claimed its role as an intermediary gave it the privilege to ‘safe harbor’ the bench said they found no issues with the previous single judiciary’s orders and decisions, which indicated that if they were found guilty of trademark infringement benefit of safe harbor under Section 79(1) of the IT Act would not be available to it”
This decision shows the judiciary’s perspective and casts a shadow on the tech giant’s advertising operations in one of its largest markets.
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