Is Google violating trademark law by operating its AdWords system?
Communications of the ACM (January 2011, vol. 54 , no. 1)
When the Dot-Com boom began in the late 1990s, many analysts and observer proclaimed the death of intermediation. Supply chains seemed to become shorter and shorter as new B2C companies emerged in the Silicon Valley. These companies could deal with their customers directly over the Internet, rendering distributors, wholesalers, brokers, and agents superfluous. WHile some traditional middlemen have indeed become less important as Internet commerce has developed, we have not seen a general death of intermediation. Rather, many new intermeduarues have arisen on the digital landscape over the last 15 years. Just think of Amazon, eBay, or Google. If all these companies have been successful, it is not because they have removed all barriers between producers and consumers. They have been successful because they offer innovative services located between producers and consumers along the digital supply chain.
The law often has a difficult time coping with new intermediaries…
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