...n apoor manner which will generate negative consequences for thequality of the company’s brand. Recently, Google was chargedwith trademark violations by Geico and American Blinds. Thecases (C 03-05340 JF US District Court For The Northern DistrictOf California San Jose Division) have gone to the discoveryphase of litigation, which means the judges have said there isenough there right now factually to potentially justify theselawsuits. The impact of this trial could be vast fo...

...r searchmarketers.A “trademark” is a word, symbol (i.e., logo) or phrase used toidentify a particular product and distinguish it from otherproducts in the marketplace. The degree of distinctiveness oruniqueness is what usually determines legal protection. Terms orsymbols that are not unique to a particular product or companyare generally not given protection. Generic terms are also notprotected. The claims made by Geico and American Blinds are thatGoogle’s AdWords program violates the law by allowingcompetitors to purchase keywords that are protected trademarks.Geico and American Blinds contest that by allowing advertisersto bid on their keyword that is in essence the same thing asselling the Geico or American Blinds name without theirauthorization. Trademark law was instituted primarily to protect the consumer.When a customer sees a brand or logo, they associate a certainquality and expectation with that logo. If inferior companieswere allowed to use the same logo and have worse products orservices, the consumer would not know what to expect. Withtrademark law the consumer gets a degree of certainty and avoidsconfusion or unmet expectations.According to lawyers this litigation could get very complicated.What Google needs to do is convince the court that there is nocustomer confusion with respect to keywords and how Googleserves ads based on search queries. They will establish thismost likely by running various consumer surveys. If successful,this would establish a legal precedent preventing futurelawsuits of the same nature; however, there is big risk ifGoogle fails. Ninety-five to ninety-nine percent of Google’sincome is from its advertising model, and a ruling against itcould be trouble for the company. If they settle, however, likeOverture did then it sets no legal precedence, making itpossible for other companies to make the same charges in thefuture.Whatever the result, it is clear that in the coming monthssomething will happen to search marketing. At the very least,Google will have to monitor trademark infringement a bit morevigorously; at the worst the company may lose a part of itsrevenue.