Google To Pay Nothing in Keyword 'Sucker's Bet'

Google will not pay American Blind & Wallpaper Factory any fee after settling a suit over its Adwords trademark policy.

As long as Google does not change its trademark policy, American Blind & Wallpaper Factory will drop its suit, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by internetnews.com.

"We are very pleased with this outcome and to note that Google has not paid and will not be paying any settlement fee, our trademark policies remain unchanged, and we've made no special exceptions for American Blind," Google managing counsel Michael Kwun told internetnews.com.

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Eric Goldman, director of Santa Clara University School of Law's High Tech Law Institute, thinks the now-former plaintiff fell for a "sucker bet" when it decided to sue over the fact that search queries on some of its trademarked terms returned searches from competitors and others.

"I think American Blinds' complete capitulation is the latest reminder to plaintiffs that it's often irrational to bring lawsuits over keywords," Goldman wrote on his Technology & Marketing Law blog.

"This case reiterates that keyword-related lawsuits can be a sucker's bet," Goldman wrote.

If that's true, the latest "sucker" to test the legality of Google AdWords's trademark policy might be American Airlines, which wants Google to stop selling keyword-based sponsored search results tied to any of its trademarks and is seeking punitive damages over the alleged infringement.

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