Online lender Moola alleges illegitimate use of Google Ads by Australian provider Wallet Wizard chasing market share.
Moola, owned by Christchurch-based NZ Fintech Ltd, alleges Wallet Wizard is breaching the Trade Marks Act using ‘Moola’ as an Adword to have Wallet Wizard appear in a sponsored advertisement at the top of Google searches when consumers type in the word Moola. Fintech registered ‘Moola' as a trademark in 2017. Wallet Wizard counters that Fintech uses the same tactic; buying ‘wallet wizard’ as an Adword to draw potential consumers to its Moola website. Both companies provide short-term loans, arranged on-line. As on-line providers, both want as many eyeballs as possible viewing their offerings.
Google’s advertising model sees providers bidding to buy a place on the opening page of searches. Whenever a consumer keys in a specific keyword or phrase, Google Ad’s algorithm uses the keyword to call up and rank advertisers paying for that word or phrase. Consumers do not know how Google’s algorithm operates. They do not know what specific keywords or phrases individual advertisers purchase.
Wallet Wizard says it cannot be in breach of the Trade Marks Act when buying ‘Moola’ as an Adword. Consumers do not know what keywords Wallet Wizard purchases to promote its search ranking. The High Court was told Wallet Wizard’s spend on Moola as an Adword amounted to less than four per cent of its total Adword spend.
Justice Gault refused an interim injunction blocking Wallet Wizard’s Adword use of Moola. It is for a full trial to determine whether consumers searching online for ‘moola’ would perceive that appearance of Wallet Wizard’s sponsored advertisement was because of their use of that trade-marked word in their search query. Wallet Wizard says consumers do recognise that businesses pay to get a better Google search ranking, but they do not understand how Google Ads works.
NZ Fintech Ltd v. Credit Corp Financial Solutions Pty Ltd – High Court (2.04.19)
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