Google must defend itself against claims that its sponsored links on search results violated the trademark rights of the Rescuecom Corporation, an appeals court said. Rescuecom, a computer services company, sued in 2004 over the use of its company name as a “keyword” in the AdWords program used by Google. Advertisers can buy placement on a search-results page based on the use of such keywords, and in some cases the “sponsored links” are shown at the top of the results.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York said a judge was wrong to dismiss the case and sent it back for further review. The court said Rescuecom had the right to claim that Google’s ad program confused consumers. “If the searcher sees a different brand name as the top entry in response to the search for ‘Rescuecom,’ the searcher is likely to believe mistakenly that the different name which appears is affiliated with the brand name sought in the search,” the three-judge panel ruled.
Catherine Lacavera, a lawyer for Google, said, “These claims are without merit, and we will continue to defend vigorously against them.”
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