COURT DIARY

Use of a Rival’s Meta Tags

In the first reported UK case on the subject (Road Tech Computer Systems Ltd v. Mandata (Management & Data Services) Ltd), a computer company, Mandata has been prevented from using the registered trade mark of a rival as a meta tag to divert customers to its website.

Meta tags are key words hidden in the text of a website to attract browsers who are using search engines to access the Internet. Mandata had included the term Roadrunner, the principal trade mark of their competitor Road Tech, as one of the meta tags at their website. Having discovered Mandata’s choice of meta tag, Road Tech, a road haulage software company, brought an action for summary judgment based on trade mark infringement and passing off.

The English High Court had little difficulty in deciding the case in favour of Road Tech, awarding £15,000 by way of damages, even though Road Tech had not provided any proof of actual loss. The use of a rival’s trade mark as a meta tag solely to attract internet users from the trade mark owner’s website to that of the rival’s was said to constitute a clear case of trade mark infringement and passing off.

Comment

This UK case is in line with most earlier US trade mark actions which have also frowned upon the unjustified use of third party trade marks as meta tags. The exception to this general rule is where the website owner can show good reason for the use of another’s mark. For example, in the US, Terri Wells, a former Playboy Playmate of the Year, was allowed to continue to use the name of the "mens" magazine as a meta tag at her personal website. One also hopes that a patent and trade mark firm who report this Road Tech case at their own website would be free to use the meta tag Roadrunner to attract other legal practitioners to their site.