The Delhi High Court has dealt a major blow to search engine giant Google in a landmark ruling on its advertising system. The court clarified that Google cannot use a company’s registered trademark to promote a competitor’s ads on its advertising platform. This landmark decision brings significant relief to the renowned sanitaryware company Hindware. The court also imposed a hefty fine of ₹3 million on Google for trademark misuse.
Google is not only a intermediary
A single bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna clarified that’s role in advertising is not limited to merely providing an intermediary or platform. Google plays an active role in suggesting keywords to advertisers and determining the ranking of ads.
Keyword game will be curbed
The court said that if a company purchases the registered trademark of another company as a keyword so that its advertisements appear at the top in search engines, it is a violation of Section 29 (6) of the Trademarks Act.
Strict instructions for future
The High Court has given strict instructions to GADS that in future, advertisements should not be displayed based on any keyword which is the trademark of any other company.
What is the matter?
This dispute was started in 2013. Sanitaryware brand Hindware discovered that some of its key competitors, Cera Sanitaryware and Grohe India, had purchased the term ‘Hindware’ as a keyword under the Google Adwords program.
This resulted in a customer searching for “Hindware” or “Hindware sanitaryware” on GADS, with links to competing companies’ websites (Cera or Grohe) appearing at the top of the search results, rather than Hindware’s. Hindware described this as an attempt to mislead customers and gain financial advantage without their consent. However, Cera and Grohe later reached a settlement with Hindware.
arguments were rejected
During the hearing, it came to light that before 2009, Google did not allow such trademarks to be used as keywords, but after 2009, it changed its policies.
In its defense, Google argued that these keywords merely act as back-end triggers for the search engine. Since the advertisements displayed to users do not mention the trademark, they cannot be considered infringing under the Trademark Act. However, the Delhi High Court rejected Google’s argument outright, considering it an attempt to take unfair advantage of the trademark’s reputation.
This decision by the Delhi High Court is being seen as a major step forward in the world of digital advertising. It will curb keyword misuse through Google AdWords and better protect companies’ trademark rights.
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