• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, September 13, 2005

In a bizarre turn of events, Geico has now started sending cease-and-desist letters to companies that use the keyword "Geico" to trigger search ads, according to Advertising Age.

Assuming this report is accurate (Geico didn't respond to messages left on deadline), every search engine and search marketing company in the country should be working overtime to counteract Geico's misinformation campaign.

Geico has been saying for quite a while that its trademark is violated when other companies use it as a keyword to trigger search ads. Undoubtedly, the company truly believes that's true.

But so far, Geico has not been able to convince a court to see matters that way. Geico sued Google in May of 2004 and the case went to trial in December. In mid-December, Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Geico failed to prove that other companies' use of its name to trigger search ads infringed on its trademark.

She didn't leave the question open, nor did she direct the parties to settle on that issue. (She ruled in Geico's favor on one minor point -- ads that actually included the word "Geico" in the headline or text violated the company's trademark, she held.) Her ruling on the important issue -- using the name Geico as a keyword to trigger an ad -- was unequivocal: Gecio did not prove that consumers were confused when they typed "Geico" into the query box and other sponsored links to companies appeared in the results page; therefore, because there was no consumer confusion, there was no trademark violation.

Geico obviously isn't happy with this ruling. Rather than let the facts stand in its way, the company is apparently demanding that other companies stop using its name to trigger ads, presumably under threat of lawsuit.

Of course, Geico might find a way to sue again. This is America. Anyone can sue. Geico might try to bring a lawsuit against different defendants, or alleging slightly different facts, and then argue that it should have another day in court to prove its point.

But search marketers should know that Geico, for all its bluster, lost the only case it attempted to take to trial.