Search engines are the cartographers of the electronic frontier. In real space, a person wishing to travel to an unknown destination might consult a map or ask someone else for directions. In cyberspace, Web users consult search engines. Since novelty and unfamiliarity are often the most salient...

Internet search engines display advertisements along with search results, providing them with a major source of revenue. The display of ads is triggered by the use of keywords, which are found in the searches performed by search engine users. The fact that advertisers can buy a keyword that...

There is an ongoing debate over whether or not a trademark is “property,” and what the appropriate boundaries of such a property right might be. Some scholars assert that rules and justifications developed to handle rights in real property are generally a poor fit for intellectual property...

May 20, 2019 witnessed the promulgation of a judgement by the United States Supreme Court which settled a circuit split created by the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and answered a question which was the subject of quandary for the American legal fraternity for more than 35 years. A...

The Coca-Cola bottle is celebrated today as a design classic and the paradigmatic illustration of protected trade dress. How the Coca-Cola Company achieved that exalted position, however, is poorly understood. This essay is an effort to fill that gap. As we explain, the bottle’s IP protection...

On September 30, 2010 Madras High Court gave a significant ruling in the case of Consim Info. v. Google India, regarding ‘Bharatmatrimony.com’ and ‘Tamilmatrimony.com’ as searchable keywords. Thus, answering a few questions regarding the usage of Trademarks as Searchable Keywords. This...

In both the EU and the US, trademark owners have sued search engine operators for using their trademarks as triggers in competitive keyword advertising. EU and US courts have taken a different approach to search engine operator liability for such invisible keyword use. The article outlines these...

Keyword search advertising occurs when an advertiser pays a search engine to link a particular keyword to its website. Keywords are often trademarks and some mark owners have objected to the search engines' practice of selling their marks as keywords without permission. Trademark doctrine...

The typical scenario of keywording involves a trilateral structure of legal positions. The mark holder is the party that has trademark rights in the term that is used as a keyword. The search engine is the entity that provides search tools to Internet users, usually for free, helping them to...