Keyword Search Advertising Service troubles

eBay sent a letter to Google demanding ownership of all keywords containing the name eBay. This on grounds of trademark ownership of the name eBay.

For me this seems to be a bit farfetched. As the article describes this would disallow the selling of any eBay add-on products or services. But this is a very grey area and clear limits should be known. Trademarked keyword ownership should be limited to only the services and products offered by the keyword owner. Thus if somebody sells eBay management software, then eBay has no power over related keywords and these keywords do contain the word eBay.

[via CNet].

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