French Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Google in Keyword Trademark Lawsuit

Google has won a long-standing lawsuit brought against the company by luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton and other companies for trademark infringement. These companies claimed that enabling others to bid on keywords trademarked by them is infringing and a French court initially agreed. Now, after the case was appealed with the European Court of Justice, which ruled for Google earlier this year, the French Supreme Court also found in favor of Google, ruling that it did not infringe on the trademarks. However, the other companies involved also welcomed the ruling, with both parties claiming victory.

“Back in March, Europe’s highest court ruled that Google had not infringed trade mark law by allowing advertisers to bid for keywords corresponding to third party trademarks,” Benjamin Du Chaffaut, Google Legal Counsel, France wrote.

“Today, the French Supreme Court was unequivocal in their rulings and anyone who reads them will be left in no doubt that there was no trade mark infringement in these cases. In addition, the Court went beyond the European Court of Justice by excluding any act of unfair competition or misleading advertising by Google. The Court also ruled in Google’s favor in a related fourth case brought by a French company called Gifam,” he added.

Google had initially lost the case when a French court ruled in 2006 that the search engine infringed on the trademarks by enabling third-parties to bid on them. The issue, in Louis Vuitton’s case, was that counterfeiters were buying the keywords to advertise their own products. The French court agreed that this was trademark infringement, but Google pursued the case to a higher court.

The European Court of Justice ruled in Google’s favor and it then deferred the case to the French Supreme Court, as is the norm. It was expected that the ruling would be maintained by the Supreme Court. The case has now also been handed to the French Court of Appeal which will apply the decision but can’t modify it, Google says.