Law360
November.19.2012
This article, about a settlement between Rosetta Stone and Google regarding the use of trademarks as keywords in online ads, quotes intellectual property partner Beth Goldman.
"Generally, the trademark community and many trademark owners believe it's confusing to sell AdWords that include another trademark," said Goldman.
Despite the risks of taking on Google, some companies may still believe the fight to be worthwhile, Goldman added, especially if they are facing a situation similar to Rosetta Stone's, where potential customers allegedly bought counterfeit software thinking it was real and called the company to complain when it didn't work.
"If you have a situation like that, where your reputation is being adversely affected, you don't really have a choice but to take action," she said. "It's much more than potentially losing sales."