On The Insider: Britney's Bikini-Clad Top 10
BNET Business Network:
BNET
TechRepublic
ZDNet
TalkBack 22 of 22:
« Previous
No, it's not about free speech
Companies do have rights to their trademarks: that's why they bother to use trademarks. So everyone agrees that free speech can legally be curtailed around trademarks. You're not allowed to use another entity's trademarks. We may disagree over the exact position of this limit on free speech, but we all agree that the limit exists.

In this case, companies were buying advertising linked to their competetor's trademarks. And the judge decided that, under French law, it was illegal for Google to sell this service. So Google cannot henceforth sell advertising keywords which are trademarked (or can sell them only to the trademark holders).

This decision was made by a court of law. Please don't assume it was motivated by anti-American bias. Give the judge some credit for being professionally dispassionate.

TRiG.
Posted by: Timothy (TRiG)   Posted on: 07/07/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
Reply to Story Reply to Message

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

Right on!  OmarHash | 02/04/05
No, Google owns their service, they can make recomendations.  DonnieBoy | 02/06/05
I think it's more complex than that  Fred Fredrickson | 02/06/05
No, it is just that simple. Travel agents do it all the time.  DonnieBoy | 02/06/05
The French  rcark01 | 02/04/05
Bizarre  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 02/04/05
missing the point  Joe Blow_z | 02/04/05
makes sense  hipparchus2000 | 02/05/05
it has everything to do with the sidebars and ads  zijiang | 02/05/05
No, you miss the point, they can not control all uses of their name.  DonnieBoy | 02/06/05
Yes, that would be  Fred Fredrickson | 02/06/05
Good points...  John Carroll ZDNet Moderator | 02/06/05
Ah, the French  James T. Kirk | 02/04/05
Bad decision  Nigel Johnstone | 02/05/05
I wonder  Nigel Johnstone | 02/05/05
Well, in any case, you can not stop people from making recommendations  DonnieBoy | 02/06/05
Quite right, but...  Fred Fredrickson | 02/06/05
Google does not sell the actual search results, adds are clearly marked  DonnieBoy | 02/06/05
Someday  cardinal33 | 02/05/05
but the trees  hipparchus2000 | 02/05/05
I call a travel agent asking about a resort, and they recommend another  DonnieBoy | 02/06/05
No, it's not about free speech  Timothy (TRiG) | 07/07/09

What do you think?

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

advertisement
advertisement