Google (News - Alert) is in trouble again, this time for using the name of one of the biggest air carriers in the U.S. — American Airlines — allegedly without permission. According to news reports, Google allegedly used American Airlines’ name to trigger paid ads for competitors. The trademark-infringement suit seeks a court order to halt Google’s policy of letting advertisers buy trademarked names as keywords. The complaint also seeks cash compensation.

 

With this, American Airlines becomes one of the biggest companies in the U.S. to claim that the online search giant does not have rights to use its name as a keyword in Web searches. The airline claims that Google has violated a trademark by using its name. The sponsored links in Google search show names of rival companies whenever a user types in the words of a famous company in the Google search box.

 

In the complaint filed by American, the company’s parent, AMR Corp., said some entities try to take advantage of the famous brand names by positioning their products based on these brand names. The company alleged that some companies are trying to do a similar thing using Google’s popular search engine.

 

Google, the most famous search engine in the world, has a history of facing copyright violations. Many of its companies like YouTube (News - Alert) and Google Books have been accused of copyright violations and even sued by big companies like Viacom. According to the annual report, filed by Google on March 1 with U.S. regulators, the company says it has received trademark-infringement claims in the U.S., France, Germany, Israel, Italy and Austria.

 

But unlike other companies, American Airlines is not going all-out against Google. The company says it has a fruitful relationship with Google and it is working to find ‘‘an appropriate resolution to the trademark issues. All the company wants right now is to stop selling its trademarks to others who are purchasing them and misleading the consumers. The company says that Google has the technology to stop such misuse and it has already done so in Europe.

 

In the report, Google claimed that adverse judgments in these matters will affect the company’s revenues and may force a change in this practice.

 

Earlier, there have been incidents of Google settling the lawsuits and complaints out of court. One such example is that of Geico Corp., the auto insurer owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Inc., which settled the lawsuit out of court in 2005. Another case, involving American Blind & Wallpaper Factory Inc., an Internet seller of home-decorating materials, is yet to be resolved.

 

Interestingly, the cases filed in regards to keywords in Google do not always involve Google! In a recent such example, contact lens retailer 1-800 Contacts, Inc., sued rival Lens.com Inc. in federal court in Salt Lake City.