In an action in France involving Google and Louis Vitton, The Court de Cassatson has asked the Court of Justice whether Google committed a trademark infringement by making available keywords and whether Google may be held liable for the content featured in AdWords, the stsytem that enables ads to be displayed in response to keywords. Under the First Council Directive 89/104/EEC and Council Direction (EC) No 40/94, trademarks owners may prohibit others from using the sign in advertising. On the other hand, The E-Commerce Directive dated 08 June 2000 exempts information society service providers from liability for the information stored at the request of a recipient of the service.

The Advocate General Poiares Maduro suggests that Google has not committed a trademark infringement stressing that the use of the trademarks is limited to the selection of key words and thus no product or service is sold to the general public. However, Goggle’s liability may be engaged for featuring content in AdWords taht involves trade mark infringement, added the Advocate General.