Adwords lands Google in the dock

Google's French site has committed an embarrassing - and potentially damaging - blunder regarding its Adwords marketing strategy.

The company recently sold the keywords "bourse des vols" (flight market) within the framework of its Adwords marketing. Only it forgot to check that it wasn't already someone's registered trademark and its understandably aggrieved owner, an online travel agent, has now had the search giant convicted for trademark infringement.

Google's business practices are now in the crosshairs of French justice. Two companies who run the sites Bourse des Vols and Bourse des Voyages have had Google France convicted for copyright infringement' by the Nanterre civil court. The search engine will have to pay €70,000 in fines and interests with an additional €5,000 in costs.

The heart of the dispute was Google's keywords, which are sold to advertisers via its Adwords advertising programme. When a user performs a search on a keyword, the companies who have bought the keywords are guaranteed a prominent position on the search engine's results page in the area reserved for sponsored links.

The plaintiffs are Luteciel and Viaticum both run by Fabrice Dariot. In his suit, Dariot accused Google of having sold its trademarks to rival tourism sites under the Adwords scheme – trademarks which were duly registered with the French National Industrial Ownership Institute.

The sponsored links for the site appeared when a user typed in the relevant key words in the search box, even if the competitors only bought the French word for 'travel', 'market' or 'flight' under Google's broadmatch system.

Google refused to settle out of court, unlike Overture and E-spotting. In the first instance, the plaintiffs not only raised the trademark issue with Google France, but also with the two search rivals, explained Viaticum's lawyer, Cyril Fabre. E-spotting and Overture both agreed to remove the links, while Google refused, landing the company in front of the Nanterre judge.

In a break with companywide solidarity Google's French arm said that is should be its American parent in the dock, given that it provides the Adwords technology.

Now, as well as the fines it has to pay, the judge told the site it is obliged to remove the contested links with the threat of an €1,500 fine for each contravention.

Estelle Dumout writes for ZDNet France, translated by Jo Best