• August 9, 2005

Federal District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema Monday put in writing her reasons for handing Google a key victory in December in the trademark infringement lawsuit brought by insurance company Geico. At trial, Geico had tried to prove that Google's policy of allowing other insurance companies to appear as sponsored search results on the query term "Geico" violated Geico's rights to its name. But Brinkema ruled last December, and reiterated in Monday's decision, that Geico didn't prove that customers were confused by this practice. Only a small portion of the lawsuit--concerning ads in which the copy itself included the word "Geico"--remains active; Brinkema stayed the matter for 30 days to give Google and Geico time to reach a settlement regarding those ads.

-- Wendy Davis