The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit granted Google's request for summary judgment and denied Field's request for summary judgment. This overturned a previous summary judgment that had stated that Google AdWords did not constitute a violation of trademark law. Location data, which is often obtained by law enforcement agencies in criminal investigations to identify suspects, is an integral part of Google's advertising business. The Google case was a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that challenged the legality of Google's AdWords program.
The court case was for Google to stop creating and distributing thumbnails of Perfect 10 images on its Google image search service, and to stop indexing and linking to sites that host those images. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held Google responsible for misrepresenting the privacy guarantees offered to users of Apple's Safari Internet browser. Oregon's attorney general, Ellen Rosenblum, summarized the lawsuit by saying: “For years, Google prioritized profits over the privacy of people who use Google products and services.” The lawsuit accused Google of violating several electronic communications laws with the launch of its new Google Buzz product. Consumers thought they had “deactivated” their location tracking features on Google, but the company continued to secretly record their movements and use that information for advertisers.
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California determined that Google had to disclose the account information of a Gmail user to whom Rocky Mountain Bank had mistakenly sent sensitive information. A spokesperson from Google said in a statement to NPR that the practices described by prosecutors are old and have since been renewed. The court concluded that, pending the outcome of the jury trial, Google AdWords could be in violation of trademark law.
Leave a Comment