The practice of using a competitor’s trademark as a keyword to trigger sponsored links in Internet search engines received a boost this week from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. In 1-800 Contacts, Inc. v. Lens.com, Inc., the Court rejected 1-800 Contacts’s claim that the practice created “initial interest confusion” among search engine users. In particular, the Tenth Circuit found that the mere purchase of a competitor’s trademark as a keyword to trigger sponsored links ― where the link itself does not incorporate the competitor’s trademark ― is unlikely to be deemed trademark infringement. The unanimous 54-page decision is a significant step in clarifying the law concerning use of trademarks as keywords.