In 2005, a computer repair company called Rescuecom sued Google for copyright infringement, claiming that users could be confused by context ads that show up when they type “Rescuecom” into a Google search. In 2006 a federal court dismissed the suit, pretty much opening the door for Google’s Adwords program. But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling last Friday and found that Google must face a trademark infringement lawsuit.
Basically this case determined that there is a threshold in which Google recommending and selling Rescuecom’s trademark could be illegal. The panel added that “Google encourages the purchase of Rescuecom’s mark through its Keyword Suggestion Tool.”
Should the infringement case be won by Rescuecom, Google could face tremendous financial woes. After all, they are earning money off Rescuecom’s name.