American Blind & Wallpaper Factory Inc. has been thwarted in its effort to stop Google from letting competitors bid on its trademarks as search terms. On Friday, the two firms settled a 2003 lawsuit which would have tested Google’s right to sell the terms.
The settlement came in advance of a scheduled November court date. As part of the agreement, American Blind was denied the right to file another suit on this claim.
But the limits on the right to sue again hold only if Google does not make any changes in its AdWords or AdSense programs which allow American Blind trademarks to appear in non-American Blind advertisements that pop up as a result of online searches.
Each party bore its own legal costs
The case had been filed with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California. It is one in a string of lawsuits filed against search engine companies such as Google and Yahoo which seek to limit competitors’ ability to bid on trademarks as search terms.
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