Why, oh why do I find trademark stuff interesting? I have no idea – well, actually, I do – commercial speech is fascinating, and it underpins the entire economic base of search. I’ve been following this stuff for a while now, as my long suffering readers know. The two big cases (and there are others) are Geico and American Blinds.
In the Geico case, Google filed for a motion to dismiss in late summer, which was denied in the early fall. The case went to early discovery, and then Google filed a summary judgment, which is something parties to a lawsuit often do when they believe there is no merit to the case.
I haven’t seen any coverage of this part of the case, but this marks another milestone: Last week (Nov. 19th to be exact) the judge denied Google’s request for summary judgment, according to the clerk at the Alexandria, Virginia court where the case resides. (I discovered this while researching the book). Hence, this one looks like it’s going to full throated trial (or…close mouthed settlement, though I don’t think so, as that would encourage a lot more suits). It also means the odds rise for the American Blind case going forward – that one awaits a judgment on Google’s initial motion to dismiss.
By the way, the reason that there was no news of Google’s filing the summary judgment motion is that Google asked that it be filed under seal. That request was granted, but the fact that the motion was denied is public. Ya just gotta ask…
More on trademarks, and why they matter, here, here here and here.
> By the way, the reason that there was no news of Google’s filing the summary judgment motion is that Google asked that it be filed under seal.
Well, wouldn’t want it indexed up by some search engine or other… 🙂