PPC Rage

Video Professor, a firm that sells instructional videos and CD-ROMS, is suing Amazon for trademark infringement resulting from Google ads.

According to Video Professor, Amazon willfully uses the phrase "video professor" to generate pay-per-click (PPC) Google ads that direct people to a site where similar instructional CD-ROMS are sold by a rival, Professor Teaches.

"It is highly likely that a user that googles the words 'Video Professor' searching for products sold by VPI (Video Professor, Inc.) might click on the Amazon.com link," the complaint reads.

"It is equally likely that once directed to the Amazon webpage having the name Video Professor at the top of the page, the user would purchase the CD-ROMs offered under the name 'Professor Teaches,' believing VPI to be the source of the products."

An Amazon spokesperson has declined to comment. But according to Norman Simon, a false advertising/trademark law expert at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, the online retailer will probably argue it uses the "video professor" trademark to spark legitimate product placement, reports MediaPost.

The past few years have seen a number of similar lawsuits that have occurred over the use of trademarks to trigger search ads. In one major case, Google won a lawsuit brought by insurance firm GEICO after a federal district court judge ruled consumers are not confused when they search for "GEICO" and the results include paid ads for rivals.

More recently, Yahoo prevailed in a case against retailer Heartbrand Beef. According to Heartbrand, a rival was posting its own ads under the term "Akaushi" — a type of beef for which Heartbrand alleges to be the only legitimate retailer in the States. The firm argued Yahoo should not allow others to use the term as a keyword; a US District Court judge decided otherwise.