Google radically changed its advertising in Europe

The American search engine Google Inc. announced Wednesday a radical change in its advertising in Europe to view more advertisers in the sponsored links that appear after a search on a trademark.

So far, the trademark holders were able to ask Google not to display any other advertiser links when searching the Internet specifically mentioning their trademarks.

Google's new policy, already in force in the United States and Great Britain, will be implemented by September 14, said his spokesperson for advertising in Europe, Ben Novick, during a press conference.

"This is good for the user" which may have displayed, if typing the name of a famous brand of car, not only the site of car manufacturer as before, but also sponsored links to sites of garages , comparators or spare parts, "he said.

Customers "will see more relevant ads when they have searched," he argued.

The policy change will result in "reducing the scope of what the owners of a trademark may be checked" in the ads displayed by Google, for its part, said the Director of Legal Affairs for Southern Europe and the Eastern group, Yoram Elkaim.

This change comes after a decision to do so by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJUE) in March. "If a trademark has been used as a keyword, the owner thereof can not invoke the exclusive right to it under its trademark against Google," had estimated the European judges.

It touches the Adwords advertising, in which brands are bidding on keywords and pay Google based on the number of clicks on their sponsored links and sponsored links related to research within websites (Adsense ).

Google, which removed 97% of its turnover on advertising in 2009, gave no information on the expected impact of this change on its income.

The companies concerned "have begun to be informed" on Wednesday, said Novick.

In Britain and Ireland, that change in 2008 "had first been crying wolf, but it did not ultimately gave rise to much litigation, for its part, argued Bill Echikson, Director of Communication Google in Europe.

In France, several lawsuits have been filed against Google for infringement of trademarks, including the leather luxury Louis Vuitton, who was accused of advertising for sites selling counterfeit products.

Under this procedure, the French Court of Cassation had referred the CJUE, then broke in July conviction on appeal from Google, ordering a retrial.