Google settles in court
Google has settled a lawsuit brought against it by American Blind & Wallpaper Factory.
The internet search engine had been accused of infringing American Blind & Wallpaper Factory’s trademarks, by selling keywords that nearly or exactly matched some of its trademarked brands.
In a pre-trial hearing, a judge said that the lawsuit could proceed based on three of American Blind & Wallpaper Factory’s trademarks - the words ‘American Blind Factory’, ‘Decoratetoday’ and ‘American Blind & Wallpaper Factory’.
‘American Blind’ and ‘American Blinds’ were descriptive terms and unenforceable, Judge Jeremy Fogel, of US district court in San Jose, added.
But instead of the dispute being ruled upon in court, the two sides decided to settle.
"We’ve said that American Blind & Wallpaper Factory’s claims were baseless, and that Google’s trademark policies are perfectly reasonable and lawful," Michael Kwun, a managing counsel for Google, commented in a statement. "Now, with trial approaching, American Blind decided to withdraw all of its claims. We are very pleased with this outcome."
A ruling in favour of American Blind & Wallpaper Factory would have had a far-reaching impact on the internet advertising industry in the US, analysts claim.
