This practice is called "keying" in the Internet industry, and is considered more effective than displaying ads to web users at random.

[2] Playboy sought a preliminary injunction to prevent Netscape from continuing its "keying" processes with the company's trademarked terms.

The district court held that Playboy could not prove that Netscape was using the terms in a fashion that created harm under existing trademark law.

[1] The circuit court applied a nine-part test, which had been established in another trademark law precedent, to determine the level of confusion that may be experienced by viewers of the banner ads in question.

The other factors in the initial interest confusion doctrine were found to be irrelevant to this dispute, but those listed here worked in favor of Playboy.

A broader attempt at a fair use defense was also rejected due to the obvious likelihood of consumer confusion over ownership of the resulting banner ads received after searching for the trademarked terms.

Meanwhile, the circuit court determined that some issues of fact remained over whether the keying practice resulted in dilution of Playboy's trademarked terms.