American Airlines is the latest brand owner to take issue with Google’s pay-per-click ad system, its main source of revenue, which the airline says is being used unfairly by rivals to steal business.
In an August 16 complaint filed in federal court in Texas, the airline seeks to stop the search engine from selling keyword-based sponsored search results tied to any of its trademarks, as well as punitive damages over the alleged infringement.
American Airlines accuses Google of violating trademark laws with its practice of selling search terms such as “American Airlines” or “AA.com” to other companies for advertising. A Google search for the trademarked term “AA.com” brings up sponsored links, such as CheapoAir.com and AirlineTickets.cheapnhotels.com. The top sponsored result of a search for “American Eagle,” another term American claims as a trademark, is an advertisement for the clothing store American Eagle, and its Web site ae.com.
Google said its practice is legally sound. “We are confident that our trademark policy strikes a proper balance between trademark owners’ interests and consumer choice, and that our position has been validated by decisions in previous trademark cases,” Google said in a statement.
American Airlines, the nation’s largest carrier, said it did not have a problem with Google’s basic business model but wanted Google to stop selling American’s trademarks and related terms. The airline quotes Google’s trademark policy as saying it “will not disable keywords in response to a trademark complaint” and will only “perform a limited investigation of reasonable complaints . . . as a courtesy.”
Google has prevailed in at least two similar cases in the United States, including a lawsuit brought by Geico, the auto insurer. And, after almost four years of litigation, Michigan-based American Blind and Wallpaper Factory abandoned a similar case against Google in late August. The settlement has been referred to as a “stunning victory” for Google. American Blind won no concessions whatsoever in the settlement, and both sides agreed to halt their claims. American Blind’s chief executive, Joel Levine, said the company pulled out for financial reasons, stating that “American Airlines is more well-suited to take on Google than we are.”
The end for American Blind came just a couple of months shy of a scheduled trial date. Such a trial would have been the first time a jury considered this important question in today's trademark law: whether a search engine infringes when it lets one company pay to place its ad alongside search results on a competitor’s