Google U-turns on trademark claim
Google has reversed its position on blocking adverts belonging to an online news channel dedicated to reporting on developments at the company, after previously claiming it had infringed its trademark.
9to5Google reports on developments from the California-based company. The news organisation is an off-shoot from 9to5Mac, which was first established in 2007 and is dedicated to news about Apple.
9to5Google started publishing reports in 2011.
On Wednesday, February 24, 9to5Google published a post stating that its advertisements had been blocked by Google’s exchange network.
A representative from Google’s public policy team informed the website that it had infringed Google’s registered trademarks.
In an email sent to the news website, Google said that the use of its mark was a “legal trademark violation” and it was required to “take action when they discover a trademark violation whether they discover it early on or much later”.
The news organisation said “we are a news site dedicated to covering Google, not trying to masquerade as Google” and vowed to appeal against the decision.
But shortly afterwards, Google pre-empted the appeal and reversed its position on the block.
“Our policy team has taken another look at this and decided to reinstate advertisements serving to your site,” a Google representative told the news publication.
This was first published on Trademarks and Brands Online.
