Delhi HC fines Google Rs 30 lakh in trademark-as-ads case

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has directed Google to pay Rs 30 lakh as damages to Hindware for using the sanitaryware major’s trademark as keywords for its AdWords programme.

Justice Mini Pushkarna, while dealing with two lawsuits by Hindware Ltd, held that the use of trademarks as keywords amounted to “unfair advantage” under the Trademarks Act and restrained Google LLC and Google India from using ‘Hindware’ or ‘Hindware Sanitaryware’, ‘Hindware Sanitary’ or ‘Hindware Sanitaryware India’ as part of advertising keywords for its platform.