Ninth Circuit Decides Competitor Keyword Advertising Case
March 9, 2011
Michael Atkins in Keyword Advertising, Trademark Infringement, Trademark Use

Not much time to blog, as I’m preparing for my keyword panel discussion.

That said, the Ninth Circuit released a pretty juicy keyword decision Tuesday: Network Automation, Inc. v. Advanced Systems Concepts, Inc.

It holds the purchase of a competitor’s trademark constituted a “use” in commerce but didn’t infringe the trademark owner’s rights. The decision is filtered through the prism of the plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction, and the defendant is in a different position than Google in the recent Rosetta Stone case, but it seems to bode well for Google and other search engine providers.

The case cite is Network Automation, Inc. v. Advanced Systems Concepts, Inc., No. 10-55840 (9th Cir. March 8, 2011).

Article originally appeared on Michael Atkins (http://seattletrademarklawyer.com/).
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