All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, we may receive compensation from retailers and/or from purchases of products through these links.
Estée Lauder sued Excite for trademark infringement after the search engine sold keywords related to the cosmetics giant to other companies.
The suit, filed early last week in Federal District Court in New York, charges that Excite wrongly sold control of the trademarked brand names Estée Lauder and Origins to Fragrance Counter, an online cosmetics retailer located in Brentwood, New York.
Estée Lauder also named Fragrance Counter in the suit, which charges trademark infringement, bait-and-switch, false advertising, and unfair competition.
"We have a history of taking action against anyone who threatens the brands and trademarks which are the foundation of this company," said Fred Langhammer, CEO of Estée Lauder Companies.
Search engines such as Excite sell specific words -- in this case the keywords "origins" and "Estée Lauder" -- to advertisers. When a consumer uses the site to search the Web for those keywords, ads for Fragrance Counter appear, rather than those for Estée Lauder.
"This will be a precedent-setting case," said Nick Copely, director of business development for Thomson and Thomson. The company runs a service called Bannerstake, which lets companies track the use of names among search engines.
"The issue is whether buying somebody else's keywords ... amounts to trademark infringement."
Excite representatives could not be reached for comment.
Fragrance Counter said the suit is without merit and hopes that "any issues can be resolved in a timely manner."
Copley said that keyword control is commonly sold on a first come, first serve basis. Therefore, he said, companies are able to buy a competitor's keywords.
Jupiter Communications online advertising analyst Evan Neufeld wasn't surprised at Fragrance Counter's purchase.
"Should it be surprising if Mercedes tries to buy the keyword for Ford Broncos -- to try to get you to buy a Mercedes?" he asked. "Not at all."
