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A PRESENTATION BY:

 


   

  


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 !ONTENTS
‡ Trademark

‡ Trademark Registration

‡ Trademark Infringement

‡ !ase: Louis vuitton Vs. Google

‡ Judgement
 TRADEMARK
A þ

 or þ
 
 is a distinctive sign or
indicator used by an individual, business organization, or
other legal entity to identify that the products or services
to consumers with which the trademark appears originate
from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or
services from those of other entities.
 TRADEMARK
‡ A trademark is a type of intellectual property, and
typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design,
image, or a combination of these elements

‡ Also includes any device, brand, label, name, signature,

word, letter, numerical, shape of goods, packaging, color
or combination of colors, smell, sound, movement or any
combination thereof which is capable of distinguishing
goods and services of one business from those of
others.
 REGISTERED TRADEMARK

‡ A registered trademark confers a bundle of exclusive

rights upon the registered owner, including the right to
exclusive use of the mark in relation to the products or
services for which it is registered.

‡ prevents unauthorized use of the mark in relation to

products or services which are identical or "colorfully"
similar to the "registered" products or services
 




‡ 

   þ is a violation of the exclusive

rights attaching to a trademark without the authorization
of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that
such authorization was within the scope of the license).

‡ Infringement may occur when one party, the "infringer",

uses a trademark which is identical or confusingly similar
to a trademark owned by another party, in relation to
products or services which are identical or similar to the
products or services which the registration covers.
 The !ase: LV Vs. Google
‡ For several years, Google and a number of luxury
brands, including Louis Vuitton, have been fighting a
battle

‡ The object of discussion is the Google Ad Words

system, the "purchase" of keywords by advertisers who
post their advertisements on the search results page
when an Internet user searches for that particular word.

‡ LMVH¶s beef was with ads selling Louis Vuitton replicas

being shown when someone Googled ³Louis Vuitton´.
They were choked that Google would be selling the
Louis Vuitton trademark to third parties ± specifically
websites selling counterfeits.
 Google paying over $400,000 USD for trademark
infringement in 2005

Google took the case to the European Union¶s highest

courts where the battle continued for another 5 years
 THE !ASE«
‡ 2003: In 2003 LMVH sued Google in French courts and
eventually won in 2005

‡ 2005: Google was convicted of promoting counterfeiting

and was forced to pay LVMH damages

‡ 2006: The Paris !ourt of appeal went even further by

extending its verdict to the natural listing of the search
engine, claiming that the American Internet giant was
technically competent enough to filter search results and
exclude counterfeiting websites
 THE !ASE«
‡ 2008: The appelate court asked the European !ourt of
Justice to speak on the case, based on the European
directive on brand protection

‡ 2009: The public procecutor of the European !ourt of

Justice, Poiares Maduro, gave his opinion giving Google
the advantage, saying that Google did not cause any
damage to brands by allowing advertisers to purchase
key words corresponding to registered brands
ý




 þ þ
 The Judgement

The European !ourt of Justice has today given its

judgment in this case. Essentially it has decided that:

1. Louis Vuitton can prevent use of its trade mark as a

keyword, without the consent of Google.

2. Louis Vuitton cannot directly prevent use of its trade

mark as a keyword by Google unless Google has "played
an active role of such a kind as to give [Google]
knowledge of, or control over, the data stored".