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This article was first published in CPA’s IP Review, issue 22.
When Google launched its AdWords advertising programme in 2003, keyword-linked advertising seemed to herald the future of online advertising. If only it didn’t infringe brand owners’ IP Rights in the process, says Duncan Bucknell
It all seemed to make perfect sense. Companies looking to ensure their details appeared at the top of a web search results page simply had to purchase ‘pay-per-click’ advertising banners that linked to particular industry-specific search terms. So, for example, if a consumer was looking to find ‘trademark counsel’, the law firm that had sponsored those keywords with a search engine provider, such as Google or Yahoo!, would appear next to the actual search results. It sounds no different from selecting the appropriate keyword terms as website metatags for your own website. That is, after all, how search engines work.
And yet the potential…