Rescuecom Corp. v. Google Inc. 562 F.3d 123 (2nd Cir. 2009), was a United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit case in which the court held that recommending a trademark for keyword advertising was a commercial use of the trademark, and could constitute trademark infringement. Background AdWords is a system used by Google through which advertisers can purchase keywords. When a user searches for a purchased keyword, Google displays advertisements from the purchasing firm. Google also provides its advertising customers with a "Keyword Suggestion Tool", which recommends additional keywords for the customer to purchase. Rescuecom, a computer repair and service firm, discovered that Google had used its name during this process, and recommended it to it AdWords customers. The "rescuecom" keyword had been trademarked by the company of that name. The company further found that Google had recommended its name for purchase by some of Rescuecom's own competitors. Rescuecom therefore filed suit against Google claiming violations of the Lanham Act, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false designation of origin, and tortious interference in business relations with an intent to gain economic advantage. District court proceedings The case was first heard by the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York in 2006. The district court drew heavily on the Second Circuit precedent 1-800 CONTACTS, INC. v. WhenU. com, Inc., concerning the use of software that generated pop-up advertisements based on a computer user's actions, with the ads being generated from a database of company domain names. In that precedent, the court held that the usage of a trademarked domain name in an "unpublished directory of terms" and the appearance of "separate, branded ads" triggered by a trademark do not constitute "use" of the trademark under the Lanham Act. In its ruling for the Rescuecom case, the district court held that, per the WhenU precedent, Rescuecom had "prove[d] no facts in support of its claim... [of] trademark use". Given that a trademark "use" is required under the Lanham Act for infringement to occur, the district court dismissed Rescuecom's complaint. Rescuecom appealed this ruling to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Circuit court opinion The Second Circuit vacated the district court's decision in 2009, holding that Google's use of the "Rescuecom" trademark constituted a "use in commerce" under the Lanham Act, even when recommending it for purchase by its own advertising customers. The vacate order ultimately resulted