RESCUECOM Lawsuit Against Google Featured in Mercury News

A federal judge granted Google a significant victory Thursday, ruling that the search engine did not violate federal law when it sold trademarked terms in an online advertising auction.

Judge Norman Mordue, of the U.S. District Court, northern district of New York, dismissed a suit brought against Google by Rescuecom, a computer repair and consulting business.

In a suit filed September 2004, Rescuecom had claimed that Google violated its trademarked name by selling it as an advertising keyword to competitors. When a keyword is entered by someone using Google's search engine, it triggers small text-based ads that run alongside search results.

Google's policy on the use of trademarks to trigger online ads placed by competitors has rankled a number of advertisers, including insurance giant Geico, which settled a similar suit against Google last year, and American Blind