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Class Action Status Is The Holy Grail Of Google Trademark Lawsuits 
By: Andy Beal 2009-05-14 Ive honestly lost track of the number of trademark lawsuits brought against Google, but how about we add one more to the pile? Firepond is stepping up to the plate, but whats interesting about its approach is not its claim that AdWords allows competitors to bid on its trademarks"although that is in there"but that the company is seeking class-action status. "In papers filed this week in federal court in the eastern district of Texas, software development company Firepond seeks class-action status on behalf of all Texas trademark holders whose names have been used to trigger search adsthis appears to mark the first time -Google- has faced a potential class-action suit about the issue." Firepond faces two challenges here. First, the odds are against them that theyll even with the trademark case"previous courts have sided with Google. Second, its going to be nye on impossible to get a judge to approve class action status. Ive looked at this for other issues"defamation/copyright"and theres just no clear way forward. The biggest hurdle is that a class action lawsuit needs multiple plaintiffs with substantially the same claim. In the case of trademarks, each plaintiff will likely have their own issues"in other words, not every plaintiff will have their trademark violated by AdWords in the exact same way. Im not a lawyer, but it appears those that have passed the bar exam, tend to agree: "Eric Goldman, director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara, says its unlikely that the court will allow the class-action. "Every trademark is different, the identity of each competitive (or other) advertiser is different, every AdWords ad copy is different, the informational needs of every trademark owners customers are different" Of course, that doesnt mean you shouldnt try. Hitting a home run is hard, but that doesnt mean you shouldnt take a swing, right? And, the first company that successfully achieves class action status will get the attention of marketers everywhere"and Google!. Go on to win such a case, and Google loses a healthy chunk of its revenue. This will be one to watch. PS. I just checked Google and didnt see any AdWords ads for "Firepond" do you? Comments Tag: Google Lawsuits Add to  Del.icio.us |  Digg |  Reddit |  Furl Have a bookmark! -  About the Author: Andy Beal is an internet marketing consultant and considered one of the world's most respected and interactive search engine marketing experts. Andy has worked with many Fortune 1000 companies such as Motorola, CitiFinancial, Lowes, Alaska Air, DeWALT, NBC and Experian. You can read his internet marketing blog at Marketing Pilgrim and reach him at andy.beal@gmail.com. |
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