Can Keywords’ Advertising Infringe Trademark?

After looking at the topic, the foremost question is, “What is the Meaning of ‘keywords advertising infringement’?” Keyword advertising is a type of online advertising of any goods or services on a search engine in which an advertiser or a company pays to determine the relevant keywords that are most pertinent to the goods or services that one’s business can offer. So, for instance, if your #business sells kids’ wear, you will be able to ensure that the people searching for keywords that include kids’ wear like formal dresses for girls or ethnic wear for boys will see the advertisements of your business. From here, the #keywords #advertising #trademark #infringement comes into play.

Registered trademark owners are not happy or satisfied with this practice as they believe it somehow creates confusion in the mind of the customers. These days keywords advertising trademark infringement is relatively a new concept as even for a small thing, these search engines have become most widely used, and when the #consumers or customers search for a particular keyword that falls under the registered trademark, they see the exact words on the website which do not relate to the actual #goodsorservices of the specific brand they are looking for, resulting in creating confusion in the mind of consumers as to what product or brand they want to buy. These keywords advertising trademarks decrease the value of registered trademarks because they are using them to gain undue benefits or advantages for their business by causing a likelihood of confusion in the mind of the general public that their product or services have the same origin and, therefore, it somehow violates the law.

Section 29 of the Trademark Act, 1999 clearly defines what would amount to trademark infringement. In simple terms, it means if any person uses a similar or deceptively similar mark as that of a registered trademark of any other person, that causes or is likely to confuse the minds of the general public that goods or services originate from the same owner taking unfair or undue advantage of the reputation or goodwill of the registered proprietor is said to be an infringement of the #registeredtrademark. The Trademarks Act defines or explains what would amount to trademark infringement, but trademark infringement through keywords advertising has not been defined. Therefore, depending upon the intention of the parties in misleading the consumer or actual proof of the likelihood of confusion that keyword creates in the mind of the general public and considering other facts and circumstances of each case, it is the court of law that will decide whether it would amount to infringement or not.