'In the lawsuit filed yesterday, M&S and Flowers Direct are accused of bidding for the words 'Interflora' and misspellings such as 'Intaflora' and 'Inter-flora' in Google's AdWords programme. When users searched for these terms, adverts for M&S and Flowers Direct appeared as 'sponsored links'.'Google used to allow businesses to register their trademarks online and ban others from using them as keywords, however thus controversially changed inline with their U.S policies back in May.
Interflora's marketing director, Michael Barringer, said the company's brand is its most valuable asset.
"The Interflora brand is extremely valuable and we will not tolerate competitors taking advantage of it and infringing our rights," he said. "Throughout its history, Interflora has been forced to use legal means to prevent infringement of its valuable trade marks."This will be a case to keep an eye on for businesses in the UK. Just because Google allow you to bid openly against other brands, does not mean its not against the rules in the courtroom."This action represents only the beginning of a broader strategy to defend the Interflora mark against infringers," said Barringer.
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