Amazon.com recently had a trademark lawsuit brought against it, saying that their search results can create ‘initial interest confusion.’ The case was won by the plaintiff initially, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has sent it back for another look because they found that ‘a jury could find that Amazon had created a likelihood of confusion.”
The case was brought against Amazon by Multi Time Machine (MTM), which is a company that makes military style watches. They do not sell any of their products through Amazon. The issue, they claim, is that when people type in their trademarked phrases such as “MTM Special Ops” Amazon will display search results from watch makers that are competitors of MTM.
They even give options for ‘related searches’ that include trademarked phrases and searches that would clearly be for the MTM watches, despite the fact that they don’t carry any on the site.
If Amazon loses the case once it works its way back through the courts, they may be required to display information saying that they don’t carry this type of watch. Or take other steps to help to avoid confusion on the part of potential consumers.
While this is obviously a potential concern for Amazon, it is also important for all performance marketers to keep in mind. Many marketers attempt to generate traffic by using ads and SEO strategies that target a specific keyword or brand name, even if they are selling something from a competitor. This could, in theory, cause legal problems based on how this case goes. It may even make it so marketers need to specify that they don’t sell a certain brand if they are getting traffic related to those types of searches.
There may not be anything to worry about yet, but it is these types of legal cases that can have a significant impact on how marketers need to operate in the future so it makes sense to keep a close eye on them now.
