Delhi HC ruling on Hindware trademark puts Google’s Ad keyword model under scrutiny

NEW DELHI: It may be a case about bathroom fittings, but the fallout could leave India’s digital advertising industry in hot water. In a landmark ruling that is already sending ripples through the online advertising ecosystem, the Delhi High Court has held that Google infringed the trademark rights of Hindware by allowing rival brands to use the company’s name as an advertising keyword.

The court ordered Google to pay damages of Rs 30 lakh (about $31,600) and permanently restrained the company from using the registered trademark “HINDWARE” and its variants as advertising keywords. The judgment, delivered on May 22 by Mini Pushkarna, is being viewed by legal experts and industry executives as one of the most consequential digital advertising rulings in India in recent years.

At the heart of the dispute was Google’s advertising platform, formerly known as AdWords, which allows advertisers to bid on keywords that trigger sponsored search results. Hindware argued that competitors were purchasing its trademarked brand name as a keyword, causing their advertisements to appear when consumers searched specifically for Hindware products.

The company first approached the courts in 2013 and 2014 after discovering that rival brands, including Cera Sanitaryware and Grohe, had allegedly bought “HINDWARE” and related terms as keywords. While those companies eventually settled their disputes with Hindware, Google continued to contest the case, setting the stage for a broader legal examination of platform responsibility.

Google maintained that it merely provided the advertising infrastructure and that responsibility for trademark use rested with advertisers placing the bids. The court, however, rejected that argument.

In its ruling, the court found that Google was not acting as a passive intermediary. Instead, it played an active commercial role by suggesting trademarked terms through its keyword planning tools, conducting auctions for those terms and earning revenue whenever users clicked on the resulting advertisements.

The judgment concluded that the use of a trademark as a keyword amounts to use “in advertising” under Indian trademark law, even if the trademark itself does not appear in the visible advertisement.

The decision also challenged Google’s reliance on safe harbour protections available to intermediaries under Section 79 of India’s Information Technology Act. The court held that Google’s active involvement in the keyword auction process weakened its claim to neutrality.

Responding to the ruling, Google said it operates in accordance with local laws and works through legal channels whenever court orders are considered inconsistent with its policies. The company also reiterated that its global advertising policies prohibit competitors from displaying trademarked terms within ad copy without authorisation.

The implications of the judgment could extend far beyond one bathroom fittings brand.

India’s digital advertising market generated more than Rs 1.36 lakh crore in revenue in 2024 and is projected to cross Rs 2.7 lakh crore by 2030. Much of that growth has been fuelled by keyword-based search advertising, automated ad targeting and increasingly sophisticated recommendation systems.

The ruling creates a potentially powerful precedent by establishing that invisible advertising triggers, such as keywords, can still constitute trademark use. That principle could influence future disputes involving retail media platforms, online marketplaces, AI-powered search products and emerging agentic commerce systems where algorithms increasingly shape purchasing decisions.

The judgment also raises broader questions about where the line should be drawn between technology platforms and commercial participants. For years, digital platforms have argued that they merely facilitate transactions. The Delhi High Court’s ruling suggests that when a platform actively designs, promotes and profits from a system, it may also bear greater responsibility for how that system operates.

An appeal from Google remains a possibility, and the legal battle may yet continue. But for now, the ruling marks a significant shift in India’s digital advertising landscape, signalling that trademark protection could carry as much weight in the virtual marketplace as it does on the shop floor.