검색광고의 법적 문제에 관한 소고

A Keyword-advertisement generally appears at or near the top of a web page, and usually the first image a user sees, and is intended to catch the attention of the user to spark an interest in the site. As more and more companies advertise on the web, the legality of Keyword-advertisement practices has become the newest battle in a series of conflicts over how much protection trademarks should be given in cyberspace. Expansion of current trademark laws to protect the trademark owner against a Keyword-advertisement could stifle other developmental efforts in the software community. This becomes quite apparent by understanding the technical aspects and underlying rationale for the Keyword-advertisement. A more appropriate solution is to rationalize a Keyword-advertisement with conventional standards as if it were an age-old problem. Prohibiting a Keyword-advertisement on the Internet will hurt consumers since these advertisements are a hallmark to electronic commerce on the Internet. Moreover, equating a Keyword-advertisement to a comparative advertisement may provide the Internet community the opportunity to develop standards, which ultimately stimulate growth. Similar to the system for resolving disputes over the registration of domain names, a trademark owner could complain of the misuse of the keywords to the search engine operator, demonstrate a trademark right in the keyword, and then purchase the keywords instead. Internet scholars echo this approach in other realms of cyberspace law. Ultimately, once the technical aspects of the Keyword-advertisement are understood, courts can apply well-settled trademark law without the need to amend current laws. We should not contain the growth of the Internet, but instead support it.