Google tm and other logo similarity

[googlebay]

I received BD congratulations from Graffics.com That is nice even it is automatic.
Google Inc congratulate me they own way. They demand withdrawal of googlebay Trademark application and transferring domain googlebay.com.au to Google instantly.
One of the arguments is diseptive similarity of layout of googlebay.com.au logo to Google trademark on my search page. I’ve created it without prior experience from scratch using bought on special Xara within 30 minutes. Xara must be proud!
http://www.googlebay.com.au/logo.gif
They threatened me with taken profit back, which is $0 – (expenses on Xara software). I wounded they going to clime gaining traffic for this creepy site. %90 out of 0 to 100 clicks a day was a google bot. The rest is from me and my friends.
Nobody mind that Google retrieve few dollars a month from my visa over a year due to “technical difficulties” with my dead Absence account, which, actually, did not make any science or traffic since opening. I had to change my Visa number to get read of this googly crap.

[gidgit]

Hmmm... tough one to answer really... I mean, on one hand a "googol" is just a very large number 100...0, and as such should be open to most anyone, on the other hand this very large company, Google" is in the business of branding this word into their own, of which was not used commonplace as is now the case...

If we use Talk... as an example of a prefix for a website name... well, talk is a pretty commonly used word, thus if you do a search on google (hehe), you will find many sites with said prefix... not really the same for the use of google... most everything listed is owned by google...

me thinx I would choose another name... I mean itś not like there are not any other words from which to choose from to describe large volumes of W.H.Y.

cheers

[Availor]

Hello,

Google is a registered trademark company, so they can claim in court (if it gets to that) that your website mark is trying to gain popularity through their logo success. If you can prove you have / had no intentions of making any profits, you'll probably not lose the case, but the moment you put any small ad or anything alike you will lose.

Also, "Google - ebay" sounds like something commercial (ebay sells stuff), and eventhough it has a different color and font, the name google is still registered to Google, and ebay is still registered to ebay. You've just merged the words.

That has nothing to do with them withdrawing from your credit card. This is a different issue and if you can prove that they did not follow the contract (the terms you agreed upon) you can very much win the case.

Now you should consider the following:
Right or wrong, do you really want to take a chance on this one? Does it worth your time?
Google is a very large company and you are just another sheet of paper on their lawyer's desk, so they don't lose anything from suing you, but you lose time, money and not to mention your nervs and calmness.

If I had the same case, I'd ask for one thing: If this domain paid for, just ask for refund and let it go.

Tell them "I'm sorry, it was free and I paid money for it, if you want it I'll give it to you, but please pay me the money I've spent".

[RTK]

Wow, I can't believe they bothered to send you that note if you don't have that many visitors. In general, they are merely protecting their Trademark/name/reputation. You don't really have much of an option but to do what they ask. I doubt you want to go to court against Google...

Instead of dipping in to other people's hard work, why not instead try and come up with your own "brand"? All domain names are not taken - well thought out names pop up all the time. A clever way to create a domain name is to use a sub domain, as in this example: ma.gnolia.com

Cheers.

Risto

[googlebay]

Name by itself does not make money or popularity regardless what Google’s “ego” may feel. But the case feed lawyers. I’ve never needed a lawyer and I’m not going to feed them. Australian saying: “one lawyer in a village has no business, two – make a fortune”….
Other "trademark" example: people confuse me with one of the famous comedians (seriously). But once I open a mouth –obviously we are not even relatives. It is not a vessel but the contents matters.
Google in French sounds the same as “kids sh**t “. How about that for the name? No wonder google lost few copyright cases in France.

[Availor]

Google in French sounds the same as “kids sh**t “. How about that for the name? No wonder google lost few copyright cases in France.

LOL! Hey Big Frank can you confirm that?

[RTK]

Google in French sounds the same as “kids sh**t “. How about that for the name? No wonder google lost few copyright cases in France.

Are you referring to "poo poo"? It's doesn't sound at all alike.

The basic thing is that you tried to ride the "coat tails" of someone else's work and mark, and you ended up sliding off and hitting your head... No need to be bitter. Start again with a new domain name.

Risto