Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Google wins in trademark suit with Geico
CNet News ^ | 12/15/2004 | Stefanie Olsen

Posted on 12/15/2004 2:55:11 PM PST by TChris

update Google scored a big legal win Wednesday when a federal judge ruled that its use of trademarks in keyword advertising is legal.

Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia granted Google's motion to dismiss a trademark-infringement complaint brought by Geico. The insurance company had charged Google with violating its trademarks by using the word "Geico" to trigger rival ads in sponsored search results. Geico claimed the practice diluted its trademarks and caused consumer confusion.

The judge said that "as a matter of law it is not trademark infringement to use trademarks as keywords to trigger advertising," said Michael Page, a partner at Keker & Van Nest, which represented Google.

Brinkema ended the trial Wednesday to issue a formal opinion on the matter. She also asked Google and Geico to settle a dispute over the use of Geico's marks in text of rival ads appearing on the search engine's site.

The ruling is a triumph for Google in that it derives as much as 95 percent of its advertising revenue from keyword-triggered ads, which appear next to Web search results. Trademarks play a central role to the sale of such ads because people often use Web search to find products and services with common, trademarked brand names such as Nike or Geico.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: geico; google; lawsuit; ruling; trademark
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-76 next last
To: TChris

Good for Google! Screw Geico.


21 posted on 12/15/2004 3:23:00 PM PST by Sloth (Al Franken is a racist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TChris
I can certainly see why Geico would have a problem with those ads being tied to their trademarked name

Then they can offer Google more to *not* show the ads of their competitors.

22 posted on 12/15/2004 3:33:28 PM PST by ThinkDifferent (These pretzels are making me thirsty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: WildTurkey
No. It is another FAIR business ruling.

How do you see this as fair Google is making money from Geico name is not compensating Geico and is injuring Geico business in the process

Should not Geico and other business be able to tell Google that there not allow to use there other business names to make a buck?. If Google want to sell ads for Auto Insurance no one stopping them, Google "Auto Insurance" and see what Google wants to push first...

But if you Google my business name that I own and spent good money to establish in the business world then you list my business and not my competition that your making money off of or you just don't list my business name at all

Geico spent the money to make there business name a synonym in Auto Insurance now Google come along and make a buck of that fact and hurts Geico busniess in the process?

23 posted on 12/15/2004 3:35:00 PM PST by tophat9000 (We didn’t rise they sunk look at the blue, water filled, sink holes map (Mike Moore Fatass divots ?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: TChris
If you look up "Geico", which would be in the white pages, you shouldn't be getting ads for their competitors.

Why not? The "white pages" belong to the Telephone Company (or other publishers), not to Geico. As it happens, ads do not normally appear in the white pages of a phone book. But the reason for that is partly tradition and mostly the nature of the publishing medium.

In other words, books and other printed materials have severe limitations. There's no easy way to know that a person is looking up "Geico" in the white pages, as opposed to several hundred other individuals or companies on a particular page, so it doesn't make economic sense to have insurance advertising in the white pages. You're forced to consult a separate yellow pages section to look up categories of businesses.

But that's not true when you type "Geico" into a search engine. Computers and the Internet's World Wide Web circumvent fixed paper-and-ink limitations, by accessing enormous relational databases and allowing the kinds of services and advertisements which Google offers. That's what makes the Internet so much more valuable than old-fashioned media.

This is a huge win, not only for Google but for all of us. In truth it is a big win for Geico, even if Geico's short-sighted management doesn't realize it. Geico is a low-cost insurance provider, so anything which increases transparency and consumer accessibility to competitive information should work to Geico's long-term advantage.

Fortunately, Geico's attempt to kill the golden goose of the Internet was swatted down by a smart judge.

24 posted on 12/15/2004 3:48:19 PM PST by dpwiener
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: TChris

Poor little Lizard :-(


25 posted on 12/15/2004 3:56:27 PM PST by Recall
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TChris

Then look at your search results and not the ads.


26 posted on 12/15/2004 4:01:51 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: snopercod
"When you type in "John Kerry" in the google search box, paid advertisements for the "Girly Men of America" pop up."

Boy, Oh Boy!!! Yer at da topa yer game taday, ain'tcha?!?(mile wide grin!!!)

27 posted on 12/15/2004 4:02:44 PM PST by SierraWasp (Ronald Reagan was an exceptional "celebrity!" Jesse Ventura & Arnold Schwarzenrenegger are NOT!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: TChris
I haven't been following this case very closely at all. It does seem a bit unfair to me that a competitor's ad can be tied to my company's name, though.

It's the equivalent of saying that if you bought an ad in a magazine, that the editors of the magazine couldn't put a competitor's ad on the same page.

Geico was just being greedy.

28 posted on 12/15/2004 4:03:37 PM PST by Terabitten (Alpha Male of the Free Republic wolfpack)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: tophat9000

Why don't you try the search and see what happens. Nothing about the search results is affected, rather than commenting on something you don't appear to know anything about.


29 posted on 12/15/2004 4:05:07 PM PST by Republican Wildcat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Tragically Single

I have to say there are people who do not understand the trademark law involved. Geico spends about $200 million for brand recognition advertising. The trademark concept at issue in this case was that Google's use of Geico's trademark to "push" consumers to sponsored links with "Geico" in the title bar or text of the commercial causes confusion. By seeing the word Geico in the title or text of the ad, consumers may think that they are going to get a quote from Geico by clicking on that link.

You cannot get a Geico quote from any of the rate quoting websites. Only from Geico.com. Nowhere else. They do not share their underwriting matrix with anyone. So to mislead consumers by leading them to think that they can get a Geico quote is a misuse of Geico's trademark.

Let me give you an example. If you click on one of the sponsored links that have Geico in the title, and you think that you are getting a comparison between say Geico and Allstate, State Farm, AAA, Aig or any of a dozen others, and then you DON'T get a Geico quote, might you think that you don't qualify for Geico and therefore have to go elsewhere.
That is a lost opportunity for Geico to even "bid" on your business.

But Google, on the other hand, is paid handsomely for the use of Geico's trademark by the advertisers that want clicks produced by searching for Geico. Do THIS sound fair to you?

Not to me.


30 posted on 12/15/2004 4:14:37 PM PST by Lionround (Any litigators out there? Email me about free republic specials. dg@litcominc.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: tophat9000
And when you call 411 information and ask for Geico should they give you the number for Allstate if Allstate pays the phone company to do this?

You pay for 411. You don't pay to use Google.

31 posted on 12/15/2004 4:16:31 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (W2: Coming January 20, 2005! Be There!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: TChris

Didnt Google give major money to the Kerry Camp?


32 posted on 12/15/2004 4:21:51 PM PST by Next_Time_NJ (NJ demorat exterminator)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lionround
If you click on one of the sponsored links that have Geico in the title...

Actually, none of the sponsored links have the word "Geico" in their title or description. They just say "Get car insurance quotes here."

Personally, I think Google should have just said, "Okay, fine. We'll take the name 'Geico' out of our database entirely. Have a nice day." Geico would have been on their knees within twenty minutes begging for mercy.

33 posted on 12/15/2004 4:21:54 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (W2: Coming January 20, 2005! Be There!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: tophat9000
And when you call 411 information and ask for Geico should they give you the number for Allstate if Allstate pays the phone company to do this?

Excellent point. I tend to agree with Geico.

34 posted on 12/15/2004 4:22:49 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (No more illegal alien sympathizers from Texas. America has one to many.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Lionround

I think Geico would have a point if the sponsored ads were listed as the top three or four links, but they're clearly off to one side, and plainly not part of the search results.

I just checked, and the word "Geico" does not appear in the text of any of the sponsored links.


35 posted on 12/15/2004 4:22:50 PM PST by Terabitten (Alpha Male of the Free Republic wolfpack)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: Tragically Single

The sponsored links are "activated" by the use of a trademarked word "Geico". Yes, they are off to the side, but do not take you to Geico's website. Also, when the lawsuit was filed, ALL the sponsored links had Geico in the title and the text. They made the advertisers take them down with the pending litigation. They will probably reappear now that the Judge was ruled in Google's favor.


36 posted on 12/15/2004 4:27:43 PM PST by Lionround (Any litigators out there? Email me about free republic specials. dg@litcominc.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Tragically Single

You'll pay for this, Google! Attica! Attica! Rodney King! Stop gecko oppression! Free Mumia!


37 posted on 12/15/2004 4:27:47 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (W2: Coming January 20, 2005! Be There!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: TChris
it's uncool, IMO

Uncool doesn't compete in a fair business deal.

38 posted on 12/15/2004 4:29:31 PM PST by NautiNurse
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: TChris
I hear Geico is changing their logo too...
Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
39 posted on 12/15/2004 4:30:13 PM PST by anonymous_user
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lionround
Trademark law does not grant the owner absolute rights to use of the name under any and all circumstances. Take, for example, the current DHL ad campaign that is filled with scenes of UPS and FedEx trucks and delivery men covered in those competitor's actual logos and designs.
40 posted on 12/15/2004 4:32:03 PM PST by Dont Mention the War (W2: Coming January 20, 2005! Be There!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-76 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson