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Google AdWords trademark suit rumbles on
Judge not about to dismiss case...

By Reuters

Published: Friday 20 April 2007

A US judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Google that charges the web search leader's AdWords program abuses trademarks.

In making his decision to allow the case to move forward, US District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled the public has an interest in whether AdWords, the company's popular pay-per-click advertising system, violates US trademark law.

American Blind & Wallpaper Factory, the top US reseller of window blinds, charged in its lawsuit that Google abuses trademarks by allowing rivals of a company to buy ads that appear when consumers search the web for information on that business.

Google has prevailed in two prior trademark suits filed against its pay-per-click ads. Auto insurer Geico lost a federal case in Virginia, and computer repair site Rescue.com lost a similar federal case but is appealing.

The latest ruling granted some claims while rejecting others in Google's motion for summary judgment, which asked the judge to dismiss American Blind's trademark infringement claims against Google's AdWords ad-selling program.

Fogel wrote in his decision: "The large number of businesses and users affected by Google's AdWords program indicates that a significant public interest exists in determining whether the AdWords program violates trademark law."

A Google spokesman said the company still has a motion for sanctions against American Blinds pending before Magistrate Judge Richard Seeborg, in the same federal court, alleging American Blinds failed to disclose key evidence.

Michael Kwun, Google's litigation counsel, said in a statement: "Judge Fogel rightfully concluded that they did not prove that two of their marks are protectable, and we are confident that they will be unable to prove their remaining claims at trial."