Published: 26 Sep 2007

The company argues that Google’s use of the carrier’s name to trigger paid ads for competitors is an established and legal marketing tool.

The Internet search company, as per the court papers, said that the practice is no different from Macy’s placing house-brand jeans next to Calvin Klein’s, or grocers giving coupons for Tropicana orange juice to customers who buy Minute Maid.

“In each instance, a company has `used’ a competitor’s trademark, in the sense that the trademark is the criterion by which the advertising target is selected,” Google said in court papers filed in federal court in Fort Worth.

American Airlines filed suit against Google in August over “sponsored ads” that appear when a keyword search using American Airlines trademarks are done on Google. American in its suit, claims Google is selling trademarked American Airlines terms, such as AAdvantage and AA.com, to other companies and profiting from it. So if someone types in one of those keywords on a Google search engine, sponsored ads that are unconnected to American Airlines appear alongside the search results.

According to Bloomberg, American said Google has the ability to change its programme and stop the unauthorised use of trademarks in its “sponsored link” advertisements that appear on the right-hand side of search-results pages.

Google disagreed, saying in court papers that its “invisible” use of trademarks isn’t “trademark use” under US law and doesn’t falsely indicate the source of the competing goods. Google argued the practice mimicked generic drug placement in pharmacies and billboards placed next to competitors, as per the media report.

“The fact that the advertising occurs on the Internet, rather than in a drugstore or on a sidewalk, makes no difference,” Google said.