French Supreme Court Follows ECJ: Google AdWords Does Not Infringe Trademarks

摘要

The French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) rendered on July 13, 2010, four decisions (GIFAM v. Google (RG 08-13.944); Louis Vuitton v. Google (RG 06-20.230); CNNRHv. Google and Tiger (RG 06-15.136); and Viaticum and Luteciel v. Google (RG 05-14.331)) following the ECJ's judgment (Cases C-236/08, C-237/08 and C-238/08, March 23, 2010) as to whether Google can be liable for selling trademarks as keywords through its AdWords service and subsequently displaying ads. The Supreme Court fully overruled the Paris Court of Appeal's initial decision which considered Google liable for trademark infringement and misleading advertising. The court did hold however, that the advertiser could be held liable for trademark infringement.