Google Loses Domain Name Dispute

Google's empire hasn't exactly crumbled, and to be honest, the average person will probably never even realize what's happened.  But what's happened is this: for just the second time in its history, Google's lost a domain name dispute.

Google submitted a complaint about a site called Groovle to the National Arbitration Forum (which ICANN lets decide domain name disputes) on November 6th of this year.  The search giant argued that Groovle is "nearly identical or confusingly similar" to its own name.

Complicating matters is the fact that Groovle markets itself as "your groovy custom search homepage," while noting on every page, "Groovle.com is not owned, operated, or sponsored, or endorsed by Google."

Anyway, a bit of back and forth ensued.  Then the National Arbitration Forum sided with Groovle, and in a document released today, it explained the decision.

"Respondent argues that the disputed domain name is not a misspelling of Complainant's mark; Respondent asserts that the disputed domain name contains the significant letters 'r' and 'v' which serve to distinguish the sound, appearance, meaning, and connotation of 'groovle' from Complainant's GOOGLE mark.  Furthermore, Respondent contends that its alterations clearly transform the predominant word of the <groovle.com> domain name to 'groove' or 'groovy,' not GOOGLE. . . .  The Panel agrees . . ."

This is a blow for Google in a symbolic sense, at least - it's participated in 65 disputes - even if the development has no measurable effect.

Have You Read This?

> Consumer Groups Ask FTC To Block Google AdMob Deal

> IBM CEO Dismisses Idea Of All-Powerful Google

> ICANN Becomes More Independent

IBM CEO Dismisses Idea Of All-Powerful Google

Believe it or not, the company that became IBM was founded in 1896, and at the moment, IBM has a market cap of around $172 billion.  So it's not going anywhere.  And IBM's CEO - who has been with the organization since 1973 - doesn't think Google will become nearly the behemoth some people have predicted.

Sam Palmisano recently discussed a number of subjects in a wide-ranging interview with Leslie P. Norton.  He devoted little time to the search giant, however, rejecting the idea that Google's tech will ever act as any sort of global backbone or even threaten his company.

Palmisano asked, "Is Google going to become the computing platform for the enterprise?  Is a bank going to run itself on Google?  Is an airline going to run itself on Google?  Is IBM going to run its supply chain on Google?"

He also said, "Is Bharti Wireless going to run themselves on Google?  Is the banking system of China that we've built going to be on Google?  Is the Russian Central Bank [network] that we're building going to be on Google?"

IBM's CEO then provided a very simple answer to all of the questions: "No."

Of course, there are those who believe differently, and Google itself might be among them.  Sherri Davidoff noticed not too long ago that an ad encouraging people to "Learn about Google at Work" bragged, "Over 60% of the U.S. state governments have gone Google."

It may also be worth noting that Google's market cap of about $196 billion is about 14 percent larger than IBM's.

Still, it's hard to imagine how Palmisano could have made his position on the subject of Google's potential dominance any clearer.

Have You Read This?

> Google Provides An Update On The AdMob Acquisition

> Google's Year In Custom Search

> Chrome Ad Campaign Nets Positive Results

Going Home For The Holidays? Google Wants To Tag Along

As people return home this holiday season, there will be all sorts of hugs and "have you had enough to eat"s.  Then they'll be pressed into service, lifting heavy stuff or perhaps climbing ladders.  And Google would very much appreciate it if visitors install the company's software, too.

A new post on the Official Google Blog about "unofficial tech support" isn't blatantly self-promotional at first.  Jeffrey Chang of the Google Chrome Team wrote, "[T]o ensure your family is getting the most speed and security out of their web experience, you can help your family upgrade to the latest version of Google Chrome, Firefox 3.5, Opera 10, Safari 4, or Internet Explorer 8 - just to name a few modern browsers."

It's a good bet that readers of the Official Google Blog are more inclined than the average person to use Chrome, though.

Then we get into an almost comical advertisement.  Chang continued, "You can also check out Google Pack, a collection of free Google and third-party software that's ready to use in just a few clicks.  From anti-virus software to keep a computer more secure and voice applications like Skype to help you keep in touch once you leave, to Google applications like Google Earth (where you can track Santa over Christmas), Google Pack's applications help your family get the most out of their computer."

Ah, well.  Google's doing plenty of good, making it hard to blame the search giant too much for pushing its mostly useful offerings.

Have You Read This?

> Watch: Google Wave Shows Events Of 2009

> Google's Year In Custom Search

> Chrome Ad Campaign Nets Positive Results

Google’s Year in Custom Search

Google's Custom Search turned three in 2009, and it had arguably its biggest year to date. The technology is powering "many tens of millions" of queries a day on millions of sites, according to the company.

As many others are doing, Google is reminiscing about the year that is almost over, and reflecting upon some of its accomplishments. The Custom Search Team specifically is reflecting on some of its highlights for 3009.

Google lists the following as key developments for the year in custom search:

• integration with several hosters to bring Custom Search to your doorstep
• enabled support for rich snippets, giving you more control over presentation of results
• it's now easier for you to promote specific content to the top of your search results
• we deployed contextual search within Blogger, Google Sites and Wikipedia
• automatic transliteration is now integrated into the search box
• improved results rendering flexibility with the Custom Search Element
• plug-n-play with themes for enhanced customizability of results look and feel
• added support for structured metadata and the ability to restrict results by specific attributes
• we got you ready for the growing population of users searching your websites with mobile devices, such as Android phones, iPhone, iPod Touch, Palm Pre, etc.

Google promises additional metadata support in the new year, with more results customization and other features for Custom Search. With that in mind, it may be a good time to give Google you feedback, if you are a user of Custom Search. They're openly requesting it.
 

Have You Read This?

> Google Does Some New Things with Custom Search

> Google Launches Custom Search For Smartphones

> AdSense For Search, Custom Search Come Together

Next Page »