Delhi High Court has given a big verdict against Google in the Hindware trademark dispute. The court has ordered Google and Google India to pay compensation of Rs 30 lakh. The court held that Google allowing registered trademarks like Hindware to be used as advertising keywords is against the law. The court held that Google took unfair advantage of the company’s brand identity and reputation by allowing the use of “Hindware”, “Hindware Sanitaryware” and similar registered trademarks as advertising keywords. This decision is being considered an important precedent for digital advertising and trademark rights in India.
These allegations against Google
Justice Mini Pushkarna said in her decision that Google’s AdWords program is a commercial arrangement, the purpose of which is to earn money from advertising through the search engine. The court held that Google took unfair advantage of the company’s brand identity and reputation by allowing the use of “Hindware”, “Hindware Sanitaryware” and similar registered trademarks as advertising keywords. According to the court, when a consumer searched for information related to Hindware, advertisements of competing companies were shown to him. This affected the traffic of the original brand and benefited the competitors. The court considered this to be unfair business practice under trademark law.
Google will also pay Rs 30 lakh compensation and legal expenses
In its decision, Delhi High Court ordered Google LLC and Google India to pay compensation of Rs 15 lakh each i.e. a total of Rs 30 lakh in both the cases. The court said that this amount should be given to Hindware within eight weeks. Apart from this, the court has also given Hindware the right to recover the actual expenses of the litigation. The company has been asked to submit complete details of its legal expenses to the court within two months. The court clarified that it is not legally acceptable to sell or make available for advertising the registered name of a trademark holder without his permission. Because of this, Google will also have to bear financial responsibility.
Questions raised on Google’s policy
Google had argued in the court that it only acts as an intermediary and should get legal protection under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act. However, the court did not accept this argument. The court said that Google was not just a passive platform, but it was earning economic profits by operating the advertising system. The judgment also noted that until 2009, Google did not allow trademarked words to be used as keywords in India, but later changed its policy. The court said that this change was clearly done for the purpose of earning commercial profits. Therefore, Google cannot be given the protection of a safe intermediary in this matter.
Also read: Sridhar Vembu said – This was completely wrong and unethical
Leave a Reply