Google Key Word Ad Risks Unfair Competition

November 20, 2008

The Dongcheng District People’s Court of Beijing rendered a judgment on October 23 in the case of Unitalen Attorneys At Law v .Guanglixin International IP Law Firm.

At www.google.com, a search of “Unitalen” produced a web site operated by the defendant. It appeared as the first search result of “sponsor link”. The web site bore a layout, color and words very similar to that of the plaintiff. Unitalen took the position that the result would lead to public confusion and thus instituted an unfair competition action.

The term “sponsor link” is a key word ad service provided by Google. After buying an ad, the user can either arrange for, or appoint an agency to choose, set and edit key words as well as headlines and content of the “sponsor link” website, or can do it himself.

The court held that the defendant acted dishonestly against business morals and thus found unfair competition. It asked the defendant to stop infringements, revise the web site, issue a declaration to remove the impact, and compensate the plaintiff in the amount of 100,000 Yuan.

Unitalen had originally named Google in the complaint but later dismissed it from the suit. Unitalen’s lawyer said that Google was not necessarily responsible for the infringement, but should make up for the loopholes in existing key word ad rules.