GOOGLE v. AMERICAN BLIND: TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT LITIGATION IN THE SEARCH ENGINE WORLD

摘要

In what appears to be a showdown that could have huge ramifications on the advertising revenues and practices of Internet search engines, litigation between Google, Inc. and American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, Inc. has commenced in two separate courts, on opposite sides of the country, triggered by Google's ADWORDS program. At issue is the lucrative advertising practice of auctioning or selling keyword placements, which allows advertisers to "buy" advertising placements on the Internet search engine results pages whenever the keyword or words appear in the queries posted to the search engine. Another practice at issue in the American Blind case, "sponsored links," provides top placement on the results page for the advertisers' links.