No Trademark Genericide: GOOGLE Is Not "A Google"

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit made a point to remind trademark litigants of the relevant laws and policies pertaining to trademark "genericide" when it sustained summary judgment in favor of ubiquitous search engine provider Google after a third party sought to cancel the registered GOOGLE trademark on grounds that the mark had become generic. David Elliott v. Google, Inc., Case No. 15-15809 (9th Cir., May 16, 2017) (Tallman, J) (Watford, J, concurring).

After Chris Gillespie registered 763 domain names that included the word "GOOGLE" paired with other terms, brands or personal names, Google filed a complaint under the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) alleging that the domain names were registered in bad faith. The arbitration forum agreed that the numerous domains had been registered in violation of the UDRP and transferred the domains to Google. Following the UDRP decision, David Elliott, later joined by Gillespie