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.
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.
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.
Which is obviously working, since people know enough to type "Geico" into a search engine.
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.
None of the ads have "Geico" in the title or text.
But Google, on the other hand, is paid handsomely for the use of Geico's trademark
Ownership of a "trademark" does not imply ownership of the "word". Otherwise you could not have a "McDonald's Lumber" or "Wendy's Boutique".
I have to say there are people who do not understand the trademark law involved.
That would be you ;^)