Geico Not Giving Up Against Google
from the uphill-battle dept
Last month, Geico very quickly lost their trademark infringement case against Google, even if the company tried to spin the loss and say it was a victory. Now, Geico is still claiming that they're going to fight on with this case, saying: "We continue to believe that the sale of our trademark is wrong, and we will continue to litigate this issue." The issue, of course, is that Google isn't "selling [their] trademark." They're selling positioning for anyone who is looking for Geico. As we've pointed out plenty of times, that's no different than the process of products being placed on shelves in stores. Stores sell placement all the time, and plenty of companies want to get placed near bigger brand names. The article also goes into some details about the method Geico used to show that there was trademark confusion. This was basically showing users two extreme cases, neither of which they were likely to see in a real-life Google search, and suggesting there was confusion. Part of this "confusion" was that some users in the test would click on an advertisement for other companies offering insurance quotes -- including quotes for Geico. You could easily question whether or not this created real confusion. If you're looking for a Geico quote, and someone offers you the opportunity to get quotes for Geico and others, many people would consciously choose to get the comparison quotes. It's not about confusion, but realizing they have more choice. In other words, Geico's complaint isn't about protecting trademark (which is just designed to prevent confusion over brand), but about preventing competition.
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