Our of the ECJ ruling on Google AdWords of March 23, 2010 we commented yesterday, the ECJ also issued another decision relating to Google AdWords on March 25, 2010, in Case C-278/08 that no-one seems to have reported….
As we said, “identity” (Identity of the marks / keywords and identity of the products of the services) was the master word of ECJ ruling of March 23 in joint cases C-236/08 to C-238/08 leaving the door open to “similarity” situations…
Actually, ECJ ruling of March 25 only deals with the entitlement of trademark owners to act against advertisers (it does not deal with Google liability like in the March 23 decision) but it says that trademark enforcement can be sought against them when the keyword is identical with or similar to the trademark.
The action of trademark owners is submitted to the same conditions in the rulings of March 23 and March 25 (i.e. the advertising must not enable an average internet user, or enables that user only with difficulty, to ascertain whether the goods or services referred to therein originate from the proprietor of the trade mark or by an undertaking which is economically connected to it or, on the contrary, originate from a third party).
That long term story has now started. Watch out!