Google Wins American Blinds Legal War of Attrition

After spending close to 4 years suing Google for trademark infringement, American Blind & Wallpaper has apparently rolled over and shown their belly in defeat.

According to Reuters, the case has been settled with Google not having to make any changes or pay American Blind a single penny. In addition to both parties paying their own legal costs…

American Blinds agreed not to sue Google “so long as Google does not make a material change in its AdWords trademark policy that adversely affects (American Blinds & Wallpaper Factory.” It also agreed not to assist other parties in suing Google.

“Google has not made and has not agreed to make any payment to (American Blinds & Wallpaper) of any kind whatsoever, whether in cash, credit or otherwise, and that Google has not agreed to change its trademark policies or any exception to how it applies its trademark policies,” the agreement said.

Google, of course, is claiming this as a huge victor–which it is:

“From the start, we’ve said that American Blind & Wallpaper Factory’s claims were baseless, and that Google’s trademark policies are perfectly reasonable and lawful,” Michael Kwun, Google’s managing counsel for litigation said in a statement.

American Blind had taken on the role of fighting Google on behalf of the little guy. There’s no doubt that their perseverance was key in encouraging others to file suit and step into the court room with Google. Now that they’ve given-up, I wonder if others will step-up and fill their shoes or follow their lead and cave-in.

It goes to show, suing Google is not a matter of whether you’re right and their wrong. The victor is the one that has the deepest pockets, the best legal team, and the most incentive to win. In this case, Google can’t ever afford to lose a trademark case–AdWords is its livelihood.