DNHour

Does Google infringe on other companies trademarks? An interesting article appears in todays WSJ. It talks of Google accepting ads in its search listings by smaller companies using larger companies trademarks. An example would be a travel company bidding on the term “Holiday Inn Orlando”. The travel companies ad would then appear any time someone types in that term. They call this “piggybacking”. In the domain space it would be called cybersquatting and result in huge fines.Obviously, to everyone but Google, Holiday Inn is a trademark. Google is quoted as saying “Google’s trademark policy strikes a proper balance between trademark owners’ interests and consumer choice and has been vindicated by courts decisions”. Google also states “that when it gets complaints, it investigates the claims and tries to stop the practice”. Some advertisers are looking for Google to only allow advertisers to use other companies trademarks if they first have permission.