India, June 4 -- In a landmark judgement, the Delhi High Court (HC) imposed a fine of Rs.30 Lakh on search and AI giant Google for violating the trademark of sanitaryware major Hindware. It's a trivial amount in the grand scheme of things, but it could have major repercussions when it comes to the digital advertising industry and its current crossroads when it comes to AI.

First the facts of the case: On May 26, a single-judge bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna ruled that Google allowed other companies to bid on the Hindware keyword on the erstwhile Google Adwords (now Google Ads), thereby infringing upon Hindware's trademark.

The dispute dates back more than a decade, and since then, the advertising landscape has undergone a fundamental t...