Google receives support from EU Judge in trademark infringement case

At least three major brands including LVMH, parent company of Louis Vuitton, launched a trademark infringement case against Google in French Courts.

Google received a massive boost in its case against the parent company of Louis Vuitton when a senior EU judge, in his legal opinion, said Google can allow trademark names to be used in its AdWords. Advocate General Poiares Maduro said in a statement: "The mere display of relevant sites in response to keywords is not enough to establish a risk of confusion on the part of consumers as to the origin of goods or services."

The French Court ruled in favour of the brands asking Google to halt the usage of trademark names in its searches. The case has been taken to the European Court of Justice and the legal opinion by the senior judge could provide Google an edge in the case.

The long-running legal dispute will not be ruled on officially until early next year, although this non-binding legal opinion is likely to carry a good deal of weight.

The companies accuse Google of allowing trademark keywords to be used in its AdWords system. This allows manufacturers of fake and replica products to place advertisements and sell non-original products.

The AdWords has a big contribution towards Google's revenue pie and the search giant posted a net advertisement revenue of $21 billion in 2008.