The suit, filed in the Eastern District Court of New York on 7th
April, seeks an injunction and the transfer of the domain.
The case dates back to 2000, when the Froogles.com domain name
was registered by Richard Wolfe, a former carpenter, according to
reports. Wolfe began to use the domain in July 2002, as an internet
shopping site for the frugal shopper.
In December 2002, however, Google launched Froogle.com, a price
engine web site, and filed an application for a US trade mark in
the Froogle name shortly after. Wolfe, who applied for his own
trade mark in September 2003, argued against the granting of
Google's mark, but it was finally awarded in February last
year.
Google then objected to Wolfe's use of the Froogles name, and in
May last year took the matter to the dispute resolution arm of the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the
body with responsibility for managing the internet's system of
domain names.
In a majority ruling, the panel found that Google was not
entitled to the transfer of the domain, explaining that there was
unlikely to be confusion between "Froogles" and "Google".
Google has now taken the case to court, accusing Wolfe of
registering the domain in the full knowledge of Google's rights in
the Google name, and arguing that Google "is the senior user of
marks that incorporate the formative "-oogle" for internet search
services."
"Defendant is using the mark 'Froogles,' which is
nearly identical to the famous mark 'Google' in an attempt to
market internet search services which are identical and/or closely
related to Google's search services," says the complaint.
