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Reed Executive v. Reed Business Information Limited

And finally to a trademark related decision from Great Britain from 2004, which I apparently missed at the time: In 1986 Reed Employment registered the trade mark "Reed" for employment services. Reed Business Information had paid the search-engine company Yahoo for a banner advertisement for its website totaljobs.com to appear when a search was conducted under the term "reed". Overturning the High Court, the Court of Appeal  ruled that the public would not be confused by the banner advert into thinking that totaljobs was connected to Reed Employment:  "The web-using member of the public knows that all sorts of banners appear when he or she does a search and they are or may be triggered by something in the search. He or she also knows that searches produce fuzzy results – results with much rubbish thrown in. The idea that a search under the name Reed would make anyone think there was a trade connection between a totaljobs banner making no reference to the word 'Reed' and Reed Employment is fanciful. No likelihood of confusion was established."

The court also adressed meta-tags. See the full text of the decision!

 

 

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