Carlos Octavio Mitelman, Senior IP Attorney at Allende & Brea wrote a note in elDial.com commenting on the Supreme Court’s decision in the case ‘Organización Veraz vs Open Discovery’, a court that ruled on the use of other people’s trademarks as ‘keywords’ to access websites of competing companies that do not own such trademarks. The Argentine Federal Court had considered that the defendant had taken unfair advantage of the prestige of others to position itself in the market, thereby committing a trademark infringement and an act of unfair competition. However, the Argentine Supreme Court (in a divided decision) held that such conduct does not merit condemnation, if it does not cause consumer confusion, if the website accessed with the ‘keyword’ is recognized by the public user only as an alternative offer to the goods or services of the well-known trademark.
In his article, Mitelman conducts a detailed analysis of the Supreme Court ruling, justifying the reasons why, in his opinion, it sets an unfortunate precedent that allows third parties to appropriate others’ prestigious signs to enhance their market presence, at the expense of companies that have invested time and money in consolidating their own trademarks.
