Delhi High Court Restrains Google From Using ‘HINDWARE’ As Advertising Keyword

Delhi High Court has permanently restrained Google and Google India from using the registered trademark “HINDWARE” as an advertising keyword, ruling that the company cannot avoid liability for trademark infringement facilitated through its advertising systems.

According to a news report by the Storyboard 18, Justice Mini Pushkarna, in an order passed on May 22, also directed Google LLC and Google India to jointly deposit a sum of ₹30 lakh as nominal damages to Hindware Limited.

The controversy came after Hindware alleged that competitor sanitaryware brands bought keywords associated with the “HINDWARE” trademark on Google’s advertising platform.

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Trademark Keyword Case:

Court documents reveal that when users searched for keywords such as “Hindware Sanitaryware,” and “Hindware Sanitary Ware India,” advertisements for competing brands appeared.

Other competitors including Grohe, Cera and Omkara Infoweb settled the issue with Hindware later, leaving Google as the only party contesting the case.

Google’s defence was that it simply provided tools that helped advertisers reserve keywords, but the court rejected this, noting that the company actively suggested trademarked search terms through its Keyword Planner tool and made money through clicks associated with those keywords.

The court held that Google’s advertising ecosystem was not simply passive facilitation, as Google allowed advertisers to bid on trademarked keywords, but also promoted those keyword combinations through automated recommendation systems and advertising auctions.

After providing systems that allegedly contributed to trademark infringement, Google can’t “shake off responsibility”, Justice Pushkarna said.

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Digital Ad Scrutiny:

The court further explained that the invisible use of a trademark to divert the online traffic still amounts to trademark usage under the Indian law, even when the trademark itself doesn’t appear visibly within the advertisement shown to the users.

“The judgment permanently restrains Google from using the terms “HINDWARE”, “HINDWARE SANITARYWARE”, “HINDWARE SANITARY”, “HINDWARE SANITARYWARE INDIA” or similar combinations as advertising keywords or in any other infringing manner.

The ruling is expected to have broader implications for digital advertising, trademark protection and keyword-based advertising models used by large technology platforms.

The ruling indicates an increasing judicial scrutiny of how trademarked terms are handled by digital ad systems and the part played by platforms that facilitate targeted advertising ecosystems for the tech and legal industries.