IMPAQT News
Google Trademark Policy Could Yield More Suits
April 26, 2004
French insurance company AXA's decision to sue Google for allowing competitors to allegedly violate its trademarks is likely one of many lawsuits facing the search giant, lawyers believe. "I think it would be handled completely different [as a public company]," he said.
The less-restrictive policy, along with Google's widely anticipated stock offering, could fuel similar litigation.
"Legally, they're obviously opening themselves up to more lawsuits in the short term," said Matt Naeger, general counsel of Pittsburgh search marketing firm Impaqt. "In the long, it's going to force the federal government to come up with a ruling" on how to apply trademark law to paid search.
Naeger said he could imagine 150 to 200 copycat suits filed in the next few months.
"It wouldn't surprise me if some attorney somewhere might want to do a class action on it," he said.
