August 24, 2007
American Airlines Sues Google Over Keyword Advertisements
Last week, ComputerWorld reports that Google has been sued by American Airlines because the airline is seeking to stop its competitors from bidding on its trademark in Google.
Their argument is,
"Without authorization or approval from American Airlines, Google has sold to third parties the 'right' to use the trademarks and service marks of American Airlines or words, phrases, or terms confusingly similar to those marks as 'keyword' triggers that cause paid advertisements, which Google calls 'Sponsored Links' to appear alongside the 'natural results," the lawsuit said.
This isn't the first lawsuit against Google for trademarked terms.
WebmasterWorld members believe that the suit is baseless.
Their "trademarked search term" could also be considered generic. Kind of like when people are lookimg for american (based) airlines, french airlines, engilsh airlines, etc.
That's a good point.
But others are not rooting for Google.
I hope they win. How would like you competitors bidding on your company name. We don't.
History has been on Google's side before. Can they win again?
What do you think about this? Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.
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Tamar Weinberg in Google AdWords at August 24, 2007 8:15 AM
Comments (7)
Comments
I think Eric has a good point in his article:
"it's not in Google's nature to retaliate this way, but I wonder what would happen if Google decided to cut off keyword advertising for American Airlines?"
Paid listings are different from organic, so just like any business, Google should be able to choose not to do business with certain companies just like a magazine or website can decide not to run ads for certain companies if they don't want to.
Posted by anon at August 24, 2007 10:55