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Google To Be Sued in UK For Trademark-Linked Ads

Posted by timothy on from the some-people-are-idiots dept.

nuke-alwin writes "Channel 4 news in the UK is reporting that Google will be sued by Lastminute.com for the way it sells advertising. Adverts from competitors will now be displayed when searching for some trademarks. Google says consumers will benefit. Some trademarks become so familiar that all similar products are known by the trademark name: Coke and Hoover, for example. I think searching for these kinds of words should allow competitors to advertise their similar products."

10 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. Abuse of what trademarks are for... by raehl · · Score: 5, Informative

    Trademarks are to identify the source of goods. Trademarks are not to protect your good from competition. Nor are the copyrights to protect your trademark from use by others outside of identifying the source of goods.

    --
    paintball
    1. Re:Abuse of what trademarks are for... by borizz · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, but that is not what is happening. If google displayed a microsoft ad, then fine.

    2. Re:Abuse of what trademarks are for... by TapeCutter · · Score: 2, Informative

      "anyone misrepresenting their goods as yours"

      That is the crux of it, google is not misrepresenting thier service as yours, the company who paid for the ad is doing the misrepresenting. Clause 6 of google's advertising terms and conditions as it pertains to trademarks is no different to what one would expect to find when taking out an advert in print, TV or radio.

      In your example google acted as I would expect any other responsible adverstising service to act and helped you to police your trademark when they were notified of the deception, in your own words you were glad they had such a policy. I do sympathise with the situation you found yourself in but I think it's unrealistic to expect google or any other advertising service to police every trademark on the planet. I do however think it is reasonable for google to expect it's own customers to abide by the contract they signed when they placed the ad.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    3. Re:Abuse of what trademarks are for... by Bloater · · Score: 2, Informative

      In the UK it is practically the only word most people use for them.

  2. Re:Robots.txt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    check their site on the wayback machine, they appear to had no qualms about (illegally) stuffing their meta tags full of competitors trademarks over the years, though they've recently stopped that (illegal) practice.

    oh, and whilst we're talking about the illegal practices of this rotten company, what about advertising non-existent prices or spamming customers with indecent messages

  3. Re:Coke and Hoover? by davebert · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yep, it's pretty standard usage in England - I hoover with my Dyson!

  4. Re:Coke and Hoover? by YttriumOxide · · Score: 4, Informative

    I think "hoover" tends to be quite common in some areas of the UK, but primarily amongst the older generation now.

    You're quite right about "Xerox" and "Kleenex" though. I'd throw in to the list "Band Aid", "Post It" and "Biro".

    It all depends on where you live though - different countries, and even different locations within countries are more or less likely to use these. For example, in Japan there's "almost" a verb for copying ("xeroxing") based on the name Ricoh (roughly "Ricohpying"). Or in some less developed countries, the world "Nescafe" is a synonym for "coffee".

    --
    My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
    Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
  5. Re:"Known" is not "marketed" by SL+Baur · · Score: 2, Informative

    "Aspirin"?

    http://www.aspirin.com/faq_en.html

    Protect a trademark or lose it.

  6. Re:Coke and Hoover? by dwater · · Score: 2, Informative

    Try the English2American dictionary - 'h' section :

    http://english2american.com/dictionary/h.html

    --
    Max.
  7. Re:Respect the law of the land by rennerik · · Score: 2, Informative

    Sure, but the end result is the same, no?

    Not in all circumstances. Rarely, in fact.

    For example, slavery was once legal. Does that mean it's also a moral practice?

    Marijuana is illegal. Does that mean possessing it is morally wrong ("evil")?

    This is called "appeal to authority" and is a logical fallacy. Laws should not be the moral barometer for a person. Certainly, they should help assist in forming moral standpoints, but since laws originate with people, and people have the capacity to do evil, laws may not be good 100% of the time. It's late; hope that made sense.