The case of American Blind & Wallpaper Factory vs. Google is continuing. According to a WebmasterWorld post, a judge refuses to drop the suit against Google. The post references a news article that says:
American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, the top US reseller of window blinds, charged in its lawsuit that Google abuses trademarks by allowing rivals of a company to buy ads that appear when consumers search the web for information on that business.
This is exactly what I covered last week. Google does have a way of reporting AdWords violations. Then again, this case has been around for quite some time.
The WebmasterWorld members are pretty unsure about how to really approach these violations, but another member points them to a Google AdWords blog post about preventing unauthorized advertisers from using trademark terms in their AdWords copy.
So, why was this case not dismissed? From the article:
Fogel wrote in his decision: "The large number of businesses and users affected by Google's AdWords program indicates that a significant public interest exists in determining whether the AdWords program violates trademark law."
From the discussion on WebmasterWorld, I suppose that is very true!
For more information, we suggest reading Google Gets Mixed Bag in Latest Ruling in American Blinds Case from Eric Goldman.
