Groovle Wins–Google Loses

Google is licking wounds today, no matter how minor they may be. The web Goliath just received a stone to the head by David-sized Groovle–a Canadian company that allows users to browse and create personalized search homepages using, of course, the Google search engine.

The dispute between the two companies is based upon domain similarity (Google.com vs Groovle.com). Essentially, Groovle is free to continue using its domain name according to the National Arbitration Forum, an arm of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the international body “dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable”. The arbitration panel was made of two retired American judges and one law professor.

Domain names aside (and there’s certainly an argument to say they’re rather similar), there doesn’t seem to be any argument Google can make against the function of Groovle which is, essentially, the prettying of the Google search homepage. Using the Google search engine (and Groovle is up front about using the “most relevant search engine in the world”) isn’t a crime and Groovle can’t be stopped for being innovative in that respect. So, it looks like Groovle is here to stay and people can continue making their one “good” looking homepages like the one I’ve made here (my latest birthday cake… it tasted of irony).

This situation is just the second time Google has lost a domain name dispute in 65 cases, with the other being Froogles.com in 2004 (type in froogle.com and you get Google’s beta online shopping portal).

This is also the second time in just seven days where an upstart Canadian company has taken it to the big boys. Last week the U.S. Federal Appeals Court upheld an  injunction banning Microsoft Word sales in the United States (taking effect 2011). Microsoft was found guilty of infringing on a patent held by Toronto-based i4i and was ordered to pay the small firm $290 million US. The company is changing the code in Word immediately, so we’ll still be able to see Word on store shelves in 13 months.

[via CBC News]