Google To Expand Trademark Bidding Worldwide

This June, Google will expand advertiser’s ability to bid on trademarked keywords worldwide in Mazda launched a keyword counterattack, targeting Pontiac keywords to promote its chief Pontiac Solstice rival, the MX-5 Miata.

And so the debate began at large: Is a tactic like this a violation of trademark law? Does it constitute use in commerce?

Google has been pretty successful defending itself in court against some rather small time players in the US, and has won similar cases in Germany. Moet, Hennessey, and Louis Vuitton, however, took it to Google in France, a ruling Google is appealing.

Back in the US, lawyers out of Marshall, Texas, a district better known for a deluge of bogus class-action patent infringement lawsuits, have filed for class action status regarding the trademark keyword issue.

While that sounds like a bad thing,