Google AdWord Rapid Response seminar report

Yesterday's Rapid Response seminar on the Court of Justice ruling in Joined Cases C-266 to 238/08 Google AdWords was an amazing experience. Exactly 56 hours after the European Union's leading court gave its ruling on the legality under Europe's trade mark law of (i) the selection, sale and deployment of keywords for internet search by a paid referencing system and (ii) the entitlement of a system such as AdWords to protection under the E-Commerce Directive as an information society service, self-confessed dog-lover and seminar chairman Ian Starr (Ashurst) stood up to welcome a standing-room audience of over 150 participants, drawn from over 10 countries and a variety of professional, commercial and institutional backgrounds.

Following a large number of requests, the IPKat is pleased to inform readers that the entire seminar has been recorded. Details of the link will be published on this weblog as soon as they are available. Meanwhile, the indefatiguable Venya Wijegoonewardene (Gallant Macmillan) toiled all night to produce this 4,400 word report on the seminar, which will give you a flavour of the issues raised and the subsequent discussions.

The IPKat just wants to thank everyone involved for the huge amount of effort that went into organising this event: in particular, Ashurst for its lovely venue and much-appreciated refreshments, Olswang LLP for its logistical support -- and of course Google, without which there would never have been a reference for a preliminary ruling in the first place.