American Blind Abandons Trial against Google

According to the same article, "the end comes just a couple of months shy of a scheduled trial date. Such a trial would have been the first time a jury took a crack at an important question in today's trademark law: whether a search engine infringes when it lets one company pay to place its ad alongside search results on a competitor's name."

Joel Levine, American Blind's chief executive, says that the company pulled out because of "financial reasons," and because American Airlines, which has more money, has filed a similar suit.

"American Airlines is more well-suited to take on Google than we are," said Levine.

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But Google's representatives disagree. "[American Blind] had a terrible case and they decided it wasn't worth pursuing," said Keker & Van Nest partner Michael Page. "They quit and went home."

And Google wasn't afraid to fight back. The company was going to file its own suit against American Blind and "present evidence at the upcoming trial about American Blind's alleged purchase of its own competitors' trademarked keywords," says the article.

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Levine, however, according to the article, thinks Google "chose to file suit against American Blind because it is small."

Again, Google's representatives disagree, "saying Google filed suit only after American Blind had been threatening to sue for 18 months."

"We didn't pick them because they were a small guy," said Page.

Both Google and American Blind reached a settlement last week and "agreed to halt their claims," according to the article on www.law.com.