Rosetta Stone, a well know software company, is set to Sue Google, for selling the rights to use trademark terms to third party users through the Adwords advertising programme.

The law suit will be based around a number of terms and phrases, which Rosetta Stone claim to have registered as trademarks which include; “dynamic Immersion”, Global Traveller” and “Adaptive Recall”. The law suit also claims that Google has been drawing customers away from their site through the use of sponsored links.

“Google’s search engine is helping third parties mislead consumers and misappropriate Rosetta Stone trademarks by using them as ‘keyword’ triggers for paid advertisements and by using them within the text or title of paid advertisements,” said Rosetta Stone’s general counsel Michael Wu.

For years Google enforced and protected the use of trademark terms but Google recently removed the bans it had in place and opened up Adwords to a more competitive advertising marketplace. The emphasis has now been shifted; the Adwords user is potentially responsible for verifying the restrictions of a search term or brand name. Trademark owners are normally quiet reasonable and a simple solicitor’s letter will normally make you aware of any breach in trademark use. But the Question is “Should Google be restricting the use of Trademark terms from within Adwords in order to protect its users?” and “Is Google’s removal of the trademark ban just another move to improve profit and increase Adwords revenue?”

Article by Creative SEO – Search Engine Optimisation Agency