New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has permanently restrained Google and Google India from using the registered trademark “Hindware” as an advertising keyword on its platform, while also directing the company to pay Rs 30 lakh in damages to Hindware.
According to reports, Justice Mini Pushkarna delivered the judgment on May 22, holding that Google could not evade responsibility for trademark infringement by positioning itself merely as a provider of advertising tools.
The dispute originated after Hindware alleged that competing brands, including Grohe and Cera, had purchased advertising keywords linked to the Hindware trademark through Google’s advertising platform. Hindware argued that this resulted in sponsored advertisements for rival sanitaryware brands appearing when users searched for terms associated with Hindware products online.
While Grohe, Cera and Omkara Infoweb later settled the dispute with Hindware, Google remained the only contesting party in the matter.
Rejecting Google’s defence that advertisers alone were responsible for selecting keywords, the court observed that the company actively participated in the process through its Keyword Planner Tool and advertising systems. The judgment noted that Google suggested trademark-related keywords, enabled bidding auctions for those terms and generated revenue from user clicks on sponsored advertisements.
The court further clarified that even if a trademark does not appear visibly within an advertisement, using it invisibly to divert internet traffic still constitutes trademark use under applicable law.
As part of the order, Google has been restrained from using “Hindware”, “Hindware Sanitaryware”, “Hindware Sanitary”, “Hindware Sanitaryware India”, or any deceptively similar variations as advertising keywords or in any other infringing manner.
The ruling is expected to have wider implications for digital advertising and keyword-based marketing practices, particularly in cases involving trademark protection and search advertising platforms.
