Google settles with Groggle over trademark

[gretl]

Presented without comment (because really... what else is there to say?!)

After an extended negotiation process between Internet giant Google and Aussie online start-up Groggle, the two have reached a settlement that has involved Groggle changing its name to Drinkle.

Groggle founder Cameron Collie told ZDNet Australia that after a six-month negotiation period, the two companies have reached a settlement with undisclosed terms that has Groggle relinquishing its domain names and trademarks to Google and moving to a new Drinkle.com domain.

"The site will be exactly as it was before but just with a new brand name," he said of the price-comparison site for alcohol. "It's the same typeface with a 'D' instead of a 'G'."

news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20022197-93.html

[lynn]

This is disappointing, Grog is such an important term for we Aussies. It's like Google is stealing our national identity.

[drivebyluna]

We might be moving to Googletown in June (aka, Mountain View).

[Gilberto]

I thought Topeka was Googletown.

Is Google really threatened by a site with a similar name? I understand that they might want to avoid the misconception that this is some Australian version of their site, but in a world full of ridiculous internet monikers, is it not allowable for someone to spoof on another site's name a little? Or is freedom of speech contingent on how much money you have at your disposal? I'm just askin'...

[lynn]

Especially since the term "Grog" has been around so long and is so recognisable. I think these big companies get a little too full of themselves. I remember hearing about a case where McDonalds tried to stop a local sporting team calling themselves "McDonalds" which was their surname, but the sporting team won because, as they argued, they'd had the family name much longer than the company had been around.

[drivebyluna]

I remember there was some guy squatting on the radoshack.com website because he wanted to piss off Radio Shack.

In related news, Walgreens is now selling Wegmans over it's use of the letter W.

consumerist.com/2010/11/walgreens-sues-wegmans-over-the-letter-w.html