[TChris]

Imagine I walk into a computer store and ask for a Compaq computer, and the salesman shows me compaq along with eMachine, Gateway, and Sony.... Is that infringement on Compaq's copyright?

Google isn't a store. A search engine isn't a salesman. The expectations are different, so I don't think the comparison is valid. If you walk into a Compaq store, and they're selling Dells and Gateways too, in a special, highlighted display, I think Compaq would rightly have a problem with that.

In my mind, when a user specifically enters a trademarked company name into a search engine, they have expressed a specific desire for information on that brand. They have done so at least in part because of the effort and expense of that company in advertising their name. If that user enters the word "computer", like entering your average computer store that sells multiple brands, they would expect to see and be sold multiple brands.

[Texaggie79]

But Google ISN'T a Geico store. It's an internet directory. If you want a more accurate comparison, then imagine I go to a tourist information booth, and ask where I could find a McDonalds. The person in the booth then gives me a map that shows ALL the local food joints, and McDonalds is one of them.

Does McDonald's have a case in saying the information booth had no right to hand out that map because the person ONLY asked about McDonald's?