Mountain View (CA) – Yes, another week, another tech lawsuit – this time it’s American Airlines suing Google for its keyword ad placement.  American Airlines alleges that Google sells sponsored links on top and to the right of search pages that, according to American Airlines, dilutes the company’s good name and confuses the public.

American Airlines filed the massive 55-page complaint in the Northern US District Court of Texas and demands a jury trial.  If it wins, the airline wants an injunction, treble damages and money to conduct a “corrective advertising campaign”.

In Google’s “AdWords” program, the company sells pay per click ads that are triggered by keywords.  These ads are set along the sides and top of the search engine page and are distinctly marked as “Sponsored Links”.  So a person searching for Los Angeles airline flights could get American Airlines in the center search window, but also Southwest and other airlines in the right side of the screen.  Regular search engine placement is determined by Google and cannot be purchased, however many online companies attempt to boost their rankings by using search engine optimization techniques (SEO).

While Google believes the sponsored section of the search windows is distinct enough for consumers, American Airlines believes differently.  According to the complaint, the airline thinks the links allows competitors to grab business from American and that they also violate trademark laws by confusing and diluting the American Airlines name.  “They seek a free ride on the reputation and goodwill of another’s brand,” said American Airlines in the complaint.

 A quick Google search of American Airlines currently brings up a set of sponsored links (the ones you see on the right side of the search screen) by Cheap Air Tickets and CheapnHotels.  American Airlines has purchased the most prominent sponsored link location at the top center of the search window.

Google has faced similar lawsuits in the past, most notably from the GEICO auto insurance group in 2004.  In that case, a federal judge ruled that the search engine company could continue selling Sponsored Links triggered by search terms.

Fruitless lawsuit.

Aug 20, 2007 14:27     

Oh please, search 'American Airlines' in google, the sponsor links don't even mention 'American Airlines.' How can you tarnish the names?
pug_ster report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

easy solution...

Aug 20, 2007 14:29     

simply de-list the airline from google...then they cant complain about the "confusion" surrounding their good name... i hope a real judge takes a look and dismisses the case on the spot. -c
christian report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Stupid Lawsuit

Aug 20, 2007 15:08     

If and when I search for American Airlines and some how screwed up massively and clicked on another airline I immediately correct my mistake by going back and clicking on American Airlines. If I have searched out AA in particular I’ll go to them and not someone else. Then if I don’t like the price (100% of the time I don’t) I’ll look at someone else and select the cheapest price. Dilute their name, please their name is well known for airline travel. De-listing them from Google isn’t the answer either. It would make Google less honest and reliable of a search engine. If you were actually looking for American Airlines and can’t find it on Google you would feel that Google isn’t a good search engine and quickly starting using another. In addition, you would have to start de-listing companies that complained. I’d be fighting this one out tooth and nail and hope American Airlines looses. Also, AA might feel discrimminate against if they were de-listed and sue for that as well.

Sean report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

re: easy solution...

Aug 20, 2007 16:34     

omg, why i didnt think of that. You're right... delist the airline from google!! hahaha, nice one :)
eeto report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Except...

Aug 20, 2007 17:34     

Yeah except AA is probably paying big dollars for that sponsored link and probably have a contract for putting it there. Besides, de-lisitng an organisation because you have had a legal argument with them before will just result in a much bigger lawsuit that will be harder to get out of.
Lachlan Widt report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Irony

Aug 20, 2007 17:55     

If the sponsored links were about life insurance I could understand the lawsuit...
Lee report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

What the heck!!!!

Aug 20, 2007 18:55     

I bearly see ad's on google if any .... if there are i never notice them, even if there was who cares aslong as they don't pop up all the time .. look at any other search engine, yahoo, msn they all ahve ads on there pages.. I love google hope american airlines looses
.. ANDREW? report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

I don't even notice google ads or sponsored links. ...

Aug 20, 2007 19:09     

I don't even notice google ads or sponsored links. I've trained myself to ignore them.
Maxor127 report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Besides, de-lisitng an organisation because you hav...

Aug 20, 2007 19:25     

Besides, de-lisitng an organisation because you have had a legal argument with them before will just result in a much bigger lawsuit that will be harder to get out of. --------------- I don't think AA can sue for delisting (other than the contractual obligation as they paid for top placement) but it will make Google look stupid as they pride themselves on being an even playing field. delisting over a spat like that would make them look like bullies.

bliq report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Airlines need to make money. . .

Aug 20, 2007 20:02     

...'cause they can't seem to be profitable in the airline business, so sue Google. They have lot's of money. I had to read this article several times to even understand what they are complaining about. American Airlines, get a life, and stop wasting the courts time and money with frivolous lawsuits. I hope you get results similar to the lousy service you provide to your customers. Like leaving them stranded on the tarmac for hours on end. I guarantee if your CEO was on board this wouldn't happen. You should be sued.

J. Doe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Partly agree...

Aug 20, 2007 23:11     

I have to partly agree, the ads at the top of the page are very confusing. The side ones are not as confusing. Of course this is why google uses both. But it's really frustrating to say to someone "just google for it, it's the first link" and they end up clicking on the ad links. Then you have to explain that it was the ad and not a highlighted result, yes, it is confusing at the top. But not the sides.

zack report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Stupid

Aug 21, 2007 07:51     

Am I the only one upset about American Airlines calling the general population stupid?
Matthew report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

CEO

Aug 21, 2007 13:06     

Kudos to American Airlines for bringing the suit. A lot of search marketers and agencies are ignorant to the significance of trademark protection, until they themselves have issues. Search marketers seems to think that these trademark suits are fruitless, but that mentality couldn’t be farther than the truth. In 2005, Google was forced to change their trademark advertising policy after a devastating blow from a federal district court in the Geico Case. The court stated: “…the district court found that the “extremely high” percentage of respondents who experienced some degree of confusion when viewing these advertisements was sufficient to show that there was a likelihood of confusion present when GEICO’s marks appeared in either the heading or the text of a Sponsored Link advertisement.” “Google advised the district court that it had no contrary evidence. Thus, the district court held that GEICO had established a likelihood of confusion and had therefore shown that Google violated the Lanham Act with regard to those Sponsored Link advertisements that included GEICO’s marks in the headings or text.” Google then settled with Geico to avoid a tumultuous threat to their business model and quickly changed their trademark policy to reflect the wisdom of the court. This issue is not going to go away, because trademark infringement in the ads of search is very real and damaging. If it rolls into a class action, the search engines will face astounding costs in compensatory damages. They are much better off updating policies to halt the brokering of trademarks–for once I agree with France.

Tom Crandall report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

President and CEO, Pricecheck.com

Aug 22, 2007 22:29     

Google took our Pricecheck® trademark as well and turned it into a 'keyword' selling it numerous advertisers, against our will. When confronted about it and with dialogue both on the phone and in writing, Google has still not responded to the profitable usage of our trademarked name. I am thrilled to see a large company like American Airlines that can hopefully afford to challenge Google. I hope they win. Weat Pricecheck, have invested hundreds of thousand of dollars in our trademark and resent Google using it to sell as if it was their own to their customers who have never paid one cent of investment toward the registration or maintenance of the mark. Good luck American Airlines. I hope you win.

Su Penny report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

joke

Aug 24, 2007 03:32     

Baners are what keep google free for us normal ppl. AA paid for top banner and they got it, they didnt pay for not using other adds on whole website and to be true, keywords banners are almost invicible compared to regular ones, they only sometime get annoing if i just want to copy that particular word and they pop. Other ads are also good for customers as it can help us to fing "better and cheaper" solution and it also increase competition whitch is also good for customer. Actualy this suite is what will make me buy AA tickets less likely if i can get ticket somewhere else for ABOUT to same price (rather spent few more dolars just to show them they dont owe us if they things too high of themselfs)

xrodney report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

CEO

Aug 28, 2007 18:57     

Personally American Airlines suit against Google is correct! Google is toying with Trade / Service Mark Names and any business that has a name that others benefit from by selling the right to link up with a search on any engine is wrong. For those that want to read the pleadings that American Airlines filed read the rest of the story go to: http://www.merchantcardservice.com/copyright.html PDF is towards the bottom pf page. Come back around Sept 12 when Google’s demurrer / response is posted and All others thereafter. There you can see how we too feel about this sort of piracy. tks

Donald Taylor report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Pleadings for American Airlines vs Google

Aug 28, 2007 19:08     

Personally American Airlines suit against Google is correct! Google is toying with Trade / Service Mark Names and any business that has a name that others benefit from by selling the right to link up with a search on any engine is wrong. For those that want to read the pleadings that American Airlines filed read the rest of the story go to: http://www.merchantcardservice.com/copyright.html PDF is towards the bottom pf page. Come back around Sept 12 when Google’s demurrer / response is posted and All others thereafter. There you can see how we too feel about this sort of piracy. tks

Donald Taylor report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

Re: President and CEO, Pricecheck.com

Sep 04, 2007 18:22     

"Pricecheck" may stand a chance because the "Pricecheck" is not a common English vocabulary, whereas "price" & "check" are. However, American airline is not, they are indeed part of the common English vocabulary we use. Probably Google could get away with selling the keywords "airline" & American", and not "American Airline"
Mat report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +0

the fixed it

Sep 15, 2007 23:38     

google is pretty quick.. a search shows no sponsored results.
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