Google won a key European Union court ruling on trademark issues Tuesday.
The European Court of Justice, Europe's highest court, said Google did not violate luxury goods trademarks by allowing companies to buy other companies' brand names as advertising key words.
Google is the world's most-widely used Internet search company, and it makes tens of billions of dollars a year by selling the right to display advertisements next to search results.
Luxury goods makers like Luis Vuitton complained that competitors were buying the right to use Luis Vuitton brand names as key words. That could guide customers to buy goods at web sites run by Vuitton's competitors, including counterfeiters.
The European Court of Justice said Google must remove the advertisements quickly if trademark holders show the ads are used for illegal activity like selling counterfeit goods.
