Google and Overture have both been sued by auto insurance company Geico for allegedly violating its trademarks in search-related advertisements. Geico filed suit against Google and Yahoo-owned Overture on May 4, in federal court in Alexandria, Va.
CNet reports that the insurer charged the two companies with infringing on its trademarks when they sold them as keywords to Geico’s rivals, so that the protected terms could appear in sponsored search results.
According to the suit, that practice causes consumer confusion, in violation of the Lanham Act, the primary federal law covering trademark registration and protection.
“This practice deliberately misleads consumers and allows Geico’s competitors and these defendants to illegally exploit for their own commercial purposes Geico’s investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in its brand,” company spokeswoman Janice Minshall wrote in an e-mail.
The insurer is seeking monetary damages and an injunction against Google’s and Overture’s use of its service marks in their advertising programs.
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