Firm Ordered to Use Negative Keywords in Online AdsFirm Ordered to Use Negative Keywords in Online Ads

As part of a trademark infringement case, a judge has ordered a Florida lending firm to use negative keywords in any Google Adwords-style advertising program in order to make sure their ads don't show up where their similarly named competitor's might.Orion Bancorp had sued Orion Residential Finance over the use of the name "Orion" in connection with financial services and especially over use of the orionresidentialfinance.com domain name. The judge agreed to give Orion Bancorp the domain name, based on its prior use of "Orion" for a financial institution. But the judge also ordered that if Orion Residential Finance ever participates in a keyword-based advertising program, it not only refrain from purchasing keywords involving "Orion" but that it also "require the activation of the term 'ORION' as negative keywords or negative adwords in any internet advertising purchased or used." In other words, the loser has to pay extra--buying so-called Negative Keywords from Google or Excluded Words from Yahoo -- to make sure its ads don't show up on the same pages Orion Bancorp's would.Ars Technica, The Register