Pinsent Masons, which advised Interflora throughout the case, welcomes the judgment which makes new law. The court held, for the first time, that use of a competitor’s trade mark in the AdWords system can be unlawful where the use substantially interferes with a brand’s reputation and its ability to attract and retain consumers. As a result, brand bidding on competitors’ trade marks now carries more legal risk. The court also ruled that such use may also constitute free-riding (or taking unfair advantage) of a brand where that brand has established a reputation.
The case was launched after Marks and Spencer was found to have purchased sponsored links on Google’s AdWords platform, which appeared when someone using Google’s search engine searched for the word “Interflora”, which is a trade marked brand name. Interflora claimed that this infringed upon its trade marks.
The CJEU ruling will now be applied to the facts of the Interflora case by the UK High Court.
Iain Connor, who acted on Interflora’s behalf, commented: “This is a significant ruling, and will have wide-reaching effects, in particular for the many companies that currently use rivals’ trade marks online in order to advertise their own businesses. The judgment of the Court of Justice needs to be applied by the High Court in the UK to determine the question of Marks & Spencer's liability.”
Michael Barringer, Interflora's marketing director commented: "This judgment backs all the hard work and effort we have put in to defending the Interflora brand. People searching the internet for "Interflora" want "Interflora, the flower experts" and no one else. Our brand stands for quality and service and together with our network of independent florists, we have spent the last 80 years building this reputation. Our customers trust us to deliver flowers at the most important times of their lives. We are very proud of the Interflora brand and want to protect it for our customers, florists and the future."