Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Score One For Google

In a decision made today, it was determined that Google's policies did not infringe on Geico's trademark.
Google Inc. won a major legal victory Wednesday when a federal judge said the search engine could continue to sell ads triggered by searches using trademarked company names.
However, one issue remains to be decided:
But [U.S. District Judge Leonie] Brinkema said the case would continue to move forward on one remaining issue, whether ads that pop up and actually use Geico in their text violate trademark law. Google contends that its policies expressly forbid advertisers from using trademark names in the text of their ads. The search engine says it does its best to prevent ads that violate the policy from sneaking in, and that the advertisers would liable for any trademark violation, not Google.

Brinkema said she would halt the trial at this point to put a decision in writing and she encouraged both parties to try and settle the remaining issues.

Forbes has the above story from the Associated Press here.

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