American Airlines Settles Suit with Google

Dallas based American Airlines settled their trademark infringment suit against Google this last week. The case was dismissed but the terms of the dismissal were not disclosed in the court records. Spokesman for American Airlines said, "We are pleased to resolve these claims on mutually satisfactory terms". Google representatives were not available for response. Online marketers have been awaiting the outcome of this case because of its involvement with "sponsored links" on search results pages in Google. Google has allowed companies to bid on advertising positions for specific keyword associated with company names and brands. AA contests by allowing non-affiliated companies to use the American Airlines name it is confusing Google users and infringing on the AA trademark. There have been plenty of other law suits with Google regarding trademark infringment but none the size of American Airlines. DFW is home to a lot of travel based companies; Southwest Airlines, Travelocity.com, Hotels.com. Companies in which Google has catered to over the years. I wonder how many of these companies will turn on Google and follow suit. By the way, did I mention Google announced last month they will be closing their Dallas office.