Vuitton beats Google on home court

The International Herald Tribune that Louis Vuitton, the luxury goods manufacturer, won another round Wednesday in its court battle with the search engine Google to eliminate online ads of competitors or counterfeiters that show up in searches for the well-known French brand.

In a closely watched trademark case, a Paris appeals court issued a ruling that found Google engaged in trademark counterfeiting, a decision that the court said would apply to all of the search engine's sites in more than 130 different countries. The court also increased the damages Google is ordered to pay from €200,000, or $251,700, to €300,000, plus legal costs.

"The consequence is that Google will have to put a system in place to find a global solution for its sites," said Patrice de Candé, a lawyer specializing in intellectual property who has challenged Google in a handful of lawsuits, including the Louis Vuitton case.

Google has already removed the advertisements that Louis Vuitton has challenged in France, based on an earlier lawsuit. But Google allows the ads to appear on searches for Louis Vuitton on its Canadian site.

Bertrand Legret, a spokesman for Google's French unit, said the company had not seen a copy of the full decision and intended to study it before taking action. There is a higher court in France where the decision could be appealed.

Under the Google system, companies can pay to be associated with certain search words even if the trademarks belong to someone else. An automated tool for Google advertisers advises which keywords to choose in connection with a brand. Topping the list for Louis Vuitton are "handbag knock-offs" and "purse knock-offs."

Vuitton, a division of the French luxury goods giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, has been pressing Google on the issue since 2003. In France, the number of trademark lawsuits against Google now number more than 40, and most have gone against the U.S. Internet company. A smaller number of cases have been brought in Belgium and Germany.