Google is great but it’s not beyond the reach of the law, and a recent decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals may cause Google to gag.  This case was brought by a company called Rescue.com, a computer service company.  Rescue.com objected to its placement on the Google search engine and sued, claiming Google users are misled into believing that ads that appear on the screen are part of the relevance-based search engine as opposed to paid advertisements, which they are.  The way it works is that companies purchased keywords which put them high up on the list.  At issue in this case was the keyword suggestion tool, which recommends keywords to advertisers for purchase.  Rescue.com claimed trademark infringement, but the Court that first heard the case dismissed it on the grounds that Google used Rescue.com’s trademark in non-visible metatags.  But the Court of Appeals reversed, holding that visible or non-visible use of a trademark is actionable.  So Google definitely isn’t giggling and it could be in for a gaggle of changes.

THIS IS NEIL CHAYET LOOKING AT THE LAW™
Rescue.com v. Google, Second Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 06-4881-CV, April 3, 2009, Leval, J., U.S. Law Week, Vol. 77, No. 40, Pg. 1638, 4-21-09

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