Chris Meller

I’d like to thank Derek Balling, who brought this issue to my attention through a blog rant he made. If you think my rants are something, please, check out my mentor… Derek is incredible!

In his post, he references a Sun Sentinel article about the legal battle over the domain Froogles.com. Apparently, Google is suing Richard Wolfe, owner of the domain, saying that it infringes upon their legal trademark, as their company is the “senior user of marks that incorporate the formative ‘ — OOGLE’ for Internet search services.”

Personally, I don’t think Google has a leggle to stand on, as Derek points out. Here’s why:

• The domain Froogles.com was registered on December 2, 2000. Froogle.com was not registered until September 11, 2001.
• The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) saw fit to award Mr. Wolfe a service mark for Froogles on September 8, 2003, almost a full year after Google was awarded one for Froogle on November 22, 2002.
• The Internet Corporation for Assigning Names and Numbers (ICANN), which regulates domain names, ruled in Wolfe’s favor when Google filed a complaint with the organization, noting that it took the company four years to mind the existence of Froogles.com.
• The owners of the domain oogle.com have yet to receive a complaint from the company, despite the claims that it’s really the “oogle” they want control of.

Now, let’s put aside the fact that the Froogles.com owner is at least partially disabled due to work-related injuries, and look at the facts here…

The fact that Froogles.com was registered a year prior to that of Froogle.com should in and of itself give Mr. Wolfe permission to use the name, if not the rights to Froogle.com. When you add to that the fact that the USPTO (despite the laughing stock patents and trademarks have become as of late, thanks to them) saw fit to accept the registration, and that ICANN allowed Wolfe to keep the domain, I think we have a clear case of right vs. wrong here.

Sadly, the US legal system doesn’t really seem to care what is right and what is wrong these days. The entire system is based on who has the deepest pockets. Perhaps Mr. Wolfe can solicit help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation too.