Teletext Holidays has initiated legal proceedings against Directline Holidays for an alleged infringement of its trademark on Google’s paid-for listings. The High Court in London was notified today (Weds 21 May) by solicitors acting for Teletext Holidays Limited and Teletext Limited of a claim against “trade mark infringement and passing off” by Directline Holidays. The…
Teletext in legal move against Directline over trademarks on Google
Teletext Holidays has initiated legal proceedings against Directline Holidays for an alleged infringement of its trademark on Google‘s paid-for listings.
The High Court in London was notified today (Weds 21 May) by solicitors acting for Teletext Holidays Limited and Teletext Limited of a claim against “trade mark infringement and passing off” by Directline Holidays.
The move is a direct result of a recent threat by Teletext to those appearing on Google paid-for listings for the keyword “teletext”.
Travolution has learned that an application for “interim relief” – a temporary injunction – will be made shortly by Teletext.
Matt Cheevers, managing director for Teletext Holidays, said: “We made it extremely clear from the start that this activity would not be tolerated and have given those companies involved plenty of notice that legal action would be the next step if bidding continued.
“We will take a hard line with those that continue to bid against us.”
Directline Holidays could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
Another travel company appearing against searches for Teletext in Google, Travelsupermarket, confirmed to Travolution that it had received correspondence relating to its activities but is “not changing” its PPC policy. It
The legal move by Teletext is the latest twist in the controversial story followed Google’s decision to relax rules prohibiting companies from bidding against the brand name or trademarks of other companies.
Travolution reported last week that Google stood by its decision to make the change after examining the legal ramifications before initiating the move.
