Microsoft has recently tested a new system of advertising whereby ads are not placed on top of the organic search results, nor to the side, nor on a colored background, but actually within the list of organic results. Is this a smart move? Will Microsoft find itself on the end of a (meritorious) lawsuit for [...]
Posts Tagged ‘ECJ’
New Microsoft ad strategy more aggressive than Google’s?
August 5th, 2011 
Gareth Dickson 
Posted in North America, social media, trademarks, UK and Europe, vront 
Tags: AdSense, AdWords, ECJ, Europe, Google, Internet, trade marks, trademarks, UK, unfair business practices 
1 Comment »
Google AdWords Takes A Hit: E-Commerce Safe Harbour MIA
July 31st, 2011 Gareth Dickson While the Wall Street Journal (initially, at any rate) declared outright victory for Google’s AdWords service after the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ” or “CJEU”) ruled that the sale of keywords to advertisers did not constitute “use” of those keywords within the meaning of the Trade Marks Directive (89/104/EEC), most of us [...]
Posted in social media, trademarks, UK and Europe, vront Tags: AdWords, ECJ, Europe, false advertising, Google, Internet, trade marks, trademarks, unfair business practices 2 Comments »Pan-European injunctions? Sure, sometimes.
October 7th, 2010 Gareth Dickson The IPKat reports today that Advocate General Cruz Villalón has released his Opinion in Case C-235/09 DHL Express (France) SAS v Chronopost SA. The reference to the ECJ asks whether a prohibition issued by a Community trade mark court of a Member State has effect throughout the entire European Community or whether it becomes impotent [...]
Posted in trademarks, UK and Europe Tags: ECJ, Europe, second circuit, trade marks, trademarks No Comments »Court of Justice to rule on LEGO trademark
September 13th, 2010 Gareth Dickson The Court of Justice of the European Union is expected to release its ruling tomorrow on whether a Lego brick can be registered as a trademark in Europe. The ruling will come nearly eight months after Advocate General Mengozzi opined that registration of the brick was not permissible (and tried to use one of Sony’s trademarks [...]
Posted in patents, trademarks, UK and Europe Tags: ECJ, Europe, Sony, trade marks, trademarks, World Trademark Review No Comments »Comments on keywords
August 18th, 2010 Gareth Dickson I’ve been enjoying some discussion with another AdWords specialist (Austrotrabant) over Google’s recent policy changes and the meaning of the CJEU’s Google France and subsequent decisions. Please go on over to http://austrotrabant.wordpress.com/2010/08/05/google-adwords-tm-policy-use-of-the-trademark-also-permitten-in-the-ad-text-of-ads-in-europe/ to have a look. In the meantime, I’ve posted my comments below as they are fairly self-contained and might be of interest. I’ll [...]
Posted in social media, trademarks, UK and Europe Tags: AdWords, confusion, ECJ, Europe, Google, Internet, trade marks, trademarks No Comments »Google abandons AdWords Keyword “Suggestion” Tool
July 27th, 2010 Gareth Dickson Google has put an end to its controversial Keyword “Suggestion” Tool after the CJEU ruled that it might not benefit from the exemptions from liability found in the E-Commerce Directive. It also appears to have modified its remaining services to protect the “LOUIS VUITTON” trademark, but continues to allow advertisers to sully other luxury brands [...]
Posted in copyright, social media, trademarks, UK and Europe Tags: AdWords, DMCA, ECJ, Europe, Google, Internet, Louis Vuitton, LVMH, software, trade marks, trademarks, UK, US 1 Comment »Can Recital 42 and Article 14 be reconciled?
July 14th, 2010 Gareth Dickson When the CJEU handed down its decision in Google and Google France vs. Louis Vuitton on March 23, 2010, brand owners were both disappointed and optimistic. Although the Court had held that because Google was not using third parties’ trademarks in its own commercial communications when it was offering them for selection as AdWords (meaning [...]
Posted in copyright, social media, trademarks, UK and Europe Tags: AdSense, AdWords, DMCA, ECJ, Europe, Google, Louis Vuitton, LVMH, trade marks, trademarks, US 1 Comment »Google says sorry after being a little bit evil
May 15th, 2010 Gareth Dickson By the end of April, it was begining to look like Google was turning a corner on what had started out as a potentially difficult year. In Europe, Google was in a high-profile dispute with LVMH, the owner of famous brands such as Moët, Hennessy, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Christian Dior. If the result went the [...]
Posted in data protection, North America, privacy, UK and Europe Tags: AdWords, ECJ, Google, Louis Vuitton, LVMH, New York, second circuit, UK 1 Comment »Google and LVMH both claim victory in landmark ECJ ruling
March 23rd, 2010 Gareth Dickson Despite this morning’s signing into law of a landmark healthcare bill in Washington, and last night’s news that Google has begun redirecting Chinese surfers to its Hong Kong-based search engine, this morning’s ECJ AdWords ruling has received some prominent media reaction on this side of the Pond (although not half as much as there would [...]
Posted in social media, trademarks, UK and Europe Tags: AdSense, AdWords, ECJ, Europe, Google, Internet, Louis Vuitton, LVMH 2 Comments »Posting for the first time
October 9th, 2009 Gareth Dickson It’s been long enough since I last blogged, so I have uploaded WordPress to my site and am going to give it another go. And there’s plenty to write about, especially in New York, from the ambitious Authors Guild vs. Google Book Settlement hearing taking place on 7 October to the recent Appeal in the [...]
Posted in North America, UK and Europe Tags: AdSense, AdWords, Authors Guild, Book Settlement, eBay, ECJ, Google, LinkedIn, Louis Vuitton, LVMH, Tiffany No Comments »