An Indian court says Google can be liable for selling rivals a brand’s name
The Delhi High Court held that letting competitors bid on the trademark ‘Hindware’ as an ad keyword is infringement, and that Google’s safe-harbour shield does not cover it.
The business of search advertising rests on a quiet assumption: that a platform can auction off any word, including someone else’s brand name, and treat the legal consequences as the advertiser’s problem. The Delhi High Court has just rejected that assumption.
In a judgment delivered on 22 May, Justice Mini Pushkarna held that Google is itself liable for allowing rivals to bid on the trademark “Hindware” as an advertising keyword.
The court permanently restrained Google LLC and Google India from offering the mark as a keyword and ordered them to pay Hindware Limited, an Indian sanitaryware maker, ₹30 lakh, about $31,600, in damages. The sum is nominal. The reasoning is not.
The dispute is old. Hindware sued after finding that competitors, including...
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