Is Keyword Use Infringing?

Following its decision in Google v. DRS, the Delhi High Court has had further occasion to analyse keyword use in relation with trademark infringement in Policybazaar Insurance Web Aggregator v Acko General Insurance Limited and Policybazaar Insurance Web Aggregator v Coverfox Insurance Broking Pvt Ltd CS (COMM) 259/2019 and CS (COMM) 260/2019, 2023).

In suits filed by Policybazaar for infringement and passing off, the court re-emphasised that the use of a competitor’s trademarks as keywords to trigger advertisements in response to search engine queries is not infringing in the absence of confusion, unfair advantage or dilution of the trademarks involved. Remfry & Sagar represented Acko and Coverfox in these cases and obtained an order in their favour wherein the court refused to interfere in Acko’s and Coverfox’s use of Policybazaar’s trademarks as keywords.

You can read a detailed analysis of the decision here.