Don’t Tread on This Trademark—At Least in Utah

The ongoing controversy over the legality of using trademarks to generate online keyword advertisements or “sponsored links” has a new twist. Last month, the State of Utah knocked loudly on the Internet’s door with a controversial statute, the Trademark Protection Act (SB 236), which is intended to ban the use of trademarks to trigger keyword ads displayed to Internet users within the state.

A keyword ad is a textbased advertisement that appears on search engine results pages. They are set apart from the generic search results (usually at the top and/or on the right side of the page) that are triggered when the Internet user types in certain keywords. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN derive enormous revenue from the sale of these keyword ads. Many keywords sold are trademarks owned by third parties, and disputes have arisen between trademark owners and the search engines and/or advertisers, especially if the advertiser (i.e., keyword purchaser) competes with the trademark owner.

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