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December 16, 2004

Google Wins Trademark Issue

V.

In a case against Geico, Google prevailed on the issue of competitor trademarks. Geico didn't appreciate the sponsored advertisements returned when users of Google search for the term "Geico." Google was allowing competing companies to use trademarks as search triggers. Geico sued, claiming trademark dilution and consumer confusion.

However, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia found no trademark issue and granted Google's motion to dismiss.

cNet News.com has a complete story.

update 12-17-2004: ClickZNews has an article entitled Google Trademark Issues Remain Unresolved that begins "Despite a key win in court yesterday against auto insurance giant GEICO, Google's trademark-related legal battles are not yet over, and individual advertisers can still be held accountable for trademark violations in search engine ads." Click here for the rest of the article.

 




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Posted by at 10:44 AM.
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Comments

It is probably good that Google was 'set free' on this one. It is certainly pro-consumer. Someone searching for a particular trademark benefits when the competition appears as well in the search returns. The likelihood of confusion is small. The likelihood of competition is great.Traverse City Attorney

Posted by: Enrico Schaefer at December 17, 2004 10:03 PM