News | Aug 17, 2007 | 9 Comments

American Airlines Takes on Google

The proposed settlement failed and now American Airlines has taken legal action against Google (Symbol: GOOG). The lawsuit is based on Google’s sponsored ads.

According to AA, when a search term that’s trademarked by American Airlines is entered into Google, rivals of American Airlines are also shown in the “sponsored links” section.

A Reuters article today said Google feels like it is on solid ground.

“We are confident that our trademark policy strikes a proper balance between trademark owners’ interests and consumer choice,” Google said in a released statement.

While Google has received lawsuits for trademark issues, those lawsuits have mostly come from smaller companies.

In 2005, Google settled with Geico over this same issue. While Google won their case on the merit of their system, they were still liable for damages.

American Airlines filed their lawsuit Thursday Forth Worth’s U.S. District Court. Damages were unspecified.

Author: Jason A. Martin

My name is Jason A. Martin. I'm an investor/trader and financial writer. This is my blog. I also run a site dedicated to currency trading at CapitalistNation.com. If you'd like to follow me on twitter, here's the link: Jason A. Martin If you need financial content (articles, newsletters, eBooks, etc) for your site, publication and/or business, go to FinancialWriter.org (my service) for more details.

9 Comments

This feels like petty litigation by AA. I think Google will win: all they are doing is operating a business.

Jimmy B

9/3/2007

It is a great information, If google crating problem for AA it means google is flying high

payday loans uk

9/12/2007

I think that American Airlines is on thin ice with this one.

I can see their complaint, if they PAID for an add, and had competing ads in the same web page. To make such a complaint on a search term….seems like quite a stretch to me.

Dave Nofmeister

9/26/2007

thanks for info

investing

10/2/2007

According to my Google is a king in making business. They really have a very good management team which are consistently trying to make Google a #1 in Fortune 500 and this time also they will take on AA.

stock investment blogger

10/27/2007

Mr. Martin,

I am a financial advisor in Fort Worth, TX and would love to get a blog set up for my business but was told by my compliance officer that I can’t…is that true and if so how are you able to do it?

Curious!!

Gordon Rhodes

11/6/2007

Yeah Google is really king now they are buying every good business over the world

Alex Swenson

11/8/2007

Google wins hands down. This is a no win situation for American Airlines.

Steven

11/26/2007

Google wins hands down. American Airlines needed the publicity.

Steven

11/26/2007

About Me

My name is Jason A. Martin and this is my investment blog. Back in Jr. High School I fell in love with an electrical wiring company's stock on Wall Street. After following the stock daily in the papers—the Internet wasn't around back then—I sent them a letter and they sent me back all sorts of wonderful information about their company.

In High School, we had a stock market contest. All the kids were picking companies that made stuff they consumed. When I announced my beloved company, I was laughed at. Little did they know that my company was going to be the subject of a takeover soon.

Long story short, I won the contest and have made money in the stock market, through real estate investing, currency trading and so forth.

I hope you enjoy Financial Rebel. If you do, please leave your comments and share this site with those you know. I also run a currency trading blog over at CapitalistNation.com.

Jason