In an interesting precedent, Tel Aviv District Court Judge Magen Altoubia has ruled that “Crazy Line” – a fashion house catering for the larger woman, can pay Google to allow use of the name of their leading competitor, ”Matim Li” (“Suits Me” in Hebrew) and their abbreviation “ml” as search terms. The ruling points out that the terms only provide a list of links offered to the web surfer and that there is no confusion as to the service provider.
The ruling considers this usage of a competitor’s name to be a legitimate competative practice and stresses that there is no likelihood of confusion between the two companies and that the term Matim Li does not show up in the sponsored link to Crazy Line so surfers who choose to click the sponsored link are aware of what they are doing.
Rubbing salt into the wound, the judge ruled that Matim Li should pay 80,000 NIS damages (about $17,000).
[...] for example: Israel Judge Allows Unregistered Trademarks to be Used as Google Search Terms where Tel Aviv District Court Judge Magen Altoubia ruled that “Crazy Line” – a fashion house [...]