Invisible Marks May Still Infringe - The crackdown on meta-tag abuse continues

According to a recent holding in the English High Court, use of the trademark of another may infringe, even if no human can perceive the trademark.

In Road Tech Computer Services, Ltd. v. Mandata Ltd., a company which used its competitor's trademark as a keyword "meta-tag" to attract Internet browsers to its website was held to have passed itself off as being associated with its competitor, and to have infringed its competitor's trademark. This is the first "meta-tag" case in the United Kingdom following several similarly situated cases in the United States. Road Tech highlights the possibility that trademark owners may be able to utilize intellectual property laws to protect against misleading meta-tag use under trademark infringement and passing off causes of actions.