February 01, 2006

Use of trademark as Adwords in Germany

"The District Court of Braunschweig had to decide on the legal admissibility of the use of foreign trademark terms within so called AdWords from adverts." This came after a dispute between two insurance and financial services companies: One advertised on Google where it "used" the name of the other.
"The Court came to the conclusion that a trademark violation existed according to § 14 para. 2 No. 2 Trademark Statute, because there was a danger of the internet user mistaking the difference. Thus it is insignificant whether the trademark term is visible for the internet user. Furthermore it is sufficient that the term is used to refer to the internet sites of the competitor", writes Law Web Saarbrücken.

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