Miller Canfield, a Detroit based law firm, had a brief overview of the legal impact of a recent federal decision regarding the Internet marketing techniques of some businesses in one of their recent newsletters.

You can read their overview, but here is a short summary:  A company put a competitor’s name in its META tags and bid on their name for their PPC campaigns.  The competitor sued the offending company and lost, because the judge said that this practice did not confuse the customer.  But the decision will not create an end to cases like this, and further legislation could follow by other companies in similar situations.  So be careful when using trademarked terms in your Internet marketing efforts.  Even if you aren’t found guilty, you still might have to pay a lawyer to defend you.