Google: Everybody Does It Everywhere — But It's Still Trademarked

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently held that the Google brand continues to enjoy trademark protection, notwithstanding that the word "google" has entered (maybe stormed) the popular lexicon to describe the act of searching for information on the internet. The case is Elliott v. Google, Inc., 856 F.3d 1225 (9^th Cir. 2017), and yes, you can "google" it.

The lawsuit has its origin in a cybersquatter's registration of hundreds of domain names containing the Google mark, followed by the name of another famous brand (e.g., googlecartier.com) or a generic term. Apparently, by entering these terms, users would be directed to the cybersquatter's website which, not accidentally, had nothing to do with the registered domain name. The cybersquatter sued Google after the National Arbitration Forum transferred their illicit domain names to Google in prior proceedings.