Playboy Loses At Court Against Excite And Netscape

What does this mean? When you search for the word "Playboy" there can be still be banners and advertisements for Playboy's competitors - such as hard core pornography pages - inserted beneath the search results. Many portals naturally welcome the courts decisions, as this practice is fundamental to search engines' financial well-being.

The court explained its decision that the "Playboy" or "Playmate" are generic terms. But the most interesting question stayed unanswered by the court: is keyword-advertising in general legal?

But there could be a definite answer as the company Playboy Enterprises wants to take the legal arguments to the next higher court.

Read more at News.com

Important for Germany: The naming of a competitor in the meta tags can be illegal in terms of patent rights and other laws, according to a court decision of the Landgerichts Mannheim, Germany.