Delhi High Court Restrains Google From Using Hindware Trademark As Ad Keyword, Awards ₹30 Lakh

The Delhi High Court has recently permanently restrained Google LLC and Google India from using the registered trademark “HINDWARE” as advertising keywords, holding that Google could not avoid responsibility for enabling infringement through its keyword advertising tools.

Justice Mini Pushkarna, in a judgment pronounced on May 22, also directed Google LLC and Google India to jointly pay ₹30 lakh as nominal damages to Hindware Limited.

“Google cannot be permitted to shrug off responsibility by making available a tool that leads to infringement, and then turning around to claim that the said tool was not mandatory.”

Hindware had filed two suits after discovering that competitors Grohe and Cera had purchased “HINDWARE” and related keyword combinations on Google's advertising platform, causing sponsored links for rival brands to appear when users searched for terms such as “Hindware Sanitaryware”, “Hindware Sanitary” and “Hindware Sanitary Ware India.” Grohe, Cera and Omkara Infoweb later settled with Hindware, leaving Google as the contesting defendant.

Rejecting Google's defence that it merely “reserved” keywords and that any trademark use was attributable solely to advertisers, the court found that Google actively suggested trademarked terms through its Keyword Planner Tool, conducted keyword auctions, and earned revenue when users clicked sponsored links triggered by those keywords.

“Thus, given the active role played by Google in suggesting and selling trademarks as keywords, and the design of the AdWords Policy and the Keyword Planner Tool, this Court is of the view that use of trademark as keyword amounts to use by Google also.”

On whether keyword bidding amounted to trademark use, the court held that use of a registered mark to trigger advertisements amounted to use in advertising even if the trademark did not visibly appear in the advertisement itself.

“Invisible use of trademark to divert the traffic from proprietors' website to the advertisers' website shall amount to use of the mark for the purpose of Section 29.”

The decree restrains Google from using “HINDWARE”, “HINDWARE SANITARYWARE”, “HINDWARE SANITARY”, “HINDWARE SANITARYWARE INDIA”, or any combination thereof, as advertising keywords or in any other infringing manner.