• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, November 20, 2008

In a move that shows just how frustrated some business owners are by Google, one small law firm recently sued the company for trademark infringement for not displaying it in the results pages.

The suit, quietly filed last week in federal district court in San Francisco by the two-attorney law firm Global Law LLP, was withdrawn this week.

Global Law, with offices in San Francisco and Redwood City, complained that queries on the term "Global Law" and ZIP code 94105 resulted in a listing that carried the Global Law name, but that linked to another law firm's site.

Global Law alleged that Google ignored a cease-and-desist letter complaining about this link. The law firm also said it spent hundreds of dollars purchasing ads on Google, and that the search engine knew its correct Web address.

In its dismissal notice, filed Tuesday, the firm did not offer a reason for withdrawing the case. But a search on Google on Thursday for "Global Law 94105" returned a link to the plaintiff's firm.

Global Law did not return messages seeking comment. Google declined to comment.

While suing is a drastic step, many small business owners complain that they feel thwarted when their companies don't appear in the search result listings as high as they would like, said David Berkowitz, director of emerging media and client strategy at search engine marketing firm 360i.

"It definitely can be frustrating," he said, adding that sometimes companies temporarily fall out of the organic search listings for seemingly random reasons. "With search results, it's normal for unexpected things to happen."

For instance, he said, an algorithm tweak can cause a company to be dropped from the listings. "It's a fairly normal occurrence. It doesn't happen to most sites, but it definitely happens."