Google (GOOG) has another lawsuit to contend with as American Airlines is suing them over allowing competitors to buy keywords which are triggered by the trademark of the company.
What is happening is "A Google visitor who enters certain words or phrases that American trademarked — for example, Aadvantage, the name of its frequent-flier program — will get links to American's Web site but also its rivals under 'sponsored links'— targeted ads that appear alongside the regular search results."
The airlines attempted to negotiate a settlement with Google before taking them to court, which obviously didn't work out.
A similar case against Geico was decided in the favor of Google, although they settled with Geico because they allowed the Geico name to be used in the text, not just being triggered by the trademark.
What I don't get about this is the complete downside for Google in this. When you have a lot of advertisers paying for your service, why would you risk the good will of a company by letting competitors to use their name to their benefit? It's terrible business practice and reeks of arrogance.
Google has had its former reputation tarnished over the last couple years, and in cases like these hurts itself much more than helps itself.
They shouldn't allow competitors to use the names of other companies to get search results. It may be legal to do it, but the ethics of it are definitely questionable.
It's one thing for a company to be confident and walk with a swagger, it's another to simply ignore the concerns of customers, especially when the product you offer is being abused by their competitors.
Over the long haul Google will probably end up being sorry for dismissing the concerns of their customers and allowing the questionable practices of companies playing the system.
There is just no upside for Google to let this to continue to happen. What say you?
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