Iria

Contradicting earlier decisions, a U.S. federal court ruled this week that the purchase by Canadian pharmacies of search engine keywords using the name of rival Merck's "Zocor" cholesterol reduction drug does not constitute trademark infringement.

Merck sued a handful of online pharmacies last year, alleging trademark infringement based on the use of the Zocor trademark on Web sites and in keywords designed to turn up sponsored links on search results pages. The lawsuit also alleged trademark dilution and false advertising.

On Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York refused to dismiss the claims of trademark dilution and false advertising but dismissed the trademark infringement claim related to the keyword purchases.

The decision contradicts an earlier ruling in which a court held that Google's sale to car insurance providers of "Geico" as a keyword to trigger their ads constituted "use in commerce," and was thus trademark infringement. Geico settled that case with Google in September, but other cases against the search behemoth are pending.
________________
Read More / Source: News.com