Google Goes on Offensive in AdWords Trademark Lawsuit–Google v. John Beck Amazing Profits
By Eric Goldman
Google, Inc v. John Beck Amazing Profits, LLC, C09 03459 (N.D. Cal. complaint filed July 27, 2009). [Warning: 1.4MB file] The Justia page.
A couple of interesting developments in John Beck Amazing Profits v. Google, the putative nationwide trademark owner class action lawsuit against Google over AdWords.
First, as of last week, the plaintiff had not served the complaint on Google even though it’s been on file for over 2 months. I’m not sure what’s the hold-up, but in my limited experience, delays in serving an already-filed complaint are often a leading indicator of a troubled lawsuit.
Second, last week Google sued the individual named plaintiff in that case, John Beck Amazing Profits, for both a declaratory judgment that AdWords doesn’t infringe plus a breach of contract claim that the lawsuit filing breached the AdWords contract provision requiring any AdWords-related lawsuit to be brought in California. Going on the offensive against a plaintiff is characteristic of Google’s litigation strategy; Google often tries to turn the tables on its litigation opponents. In this case, a major goal for Google surely is to get the case out of the Eastern District of Texas, which has been a dangerous venue for patent defendants.
Although the declaratory judgment and counterclaim is consistent with Google’s standard practices, in this case Google is ripping a page out of Yahoo’s playbook in its litigation with American Airlines. American Airlines sued Yahoo over selling trademarked keywords in a Texas federal court; Yahoo shot back with a in a California federal court to try to get the case in a more favorable venue. The “dueling lawsuits” have led to an ongoing jurisdictional tussle that has slowed down progress on the substantive merits of American Airlines’ claim.
As I wrote in connection with Yahoo’s efforts, it was not clear to me that a defendant can wrest jurisdictional control of a case through the declaratory judgment process. In Google’s situation, it’s even more complicated because John Beck Amazing Profits is just the named plaintiff in a class action lawsuit. The plaintiffs could easily replace John Beck Amazing Profits with another named plaintiff who isn’t an AdWords advertiser and isn’t subject to California jurisdiction. At that point, I’m not sure what happens to the class action. (And, even if Google succeeds in moving the nationwide case, it should have no bearing on the Firepond putative class action lawsuit, which only covers a class of Texas trademark owners). Moreover, even if Google wins the declaratory judgment, it would have no binding effect on other class members.
So other than a not-certain-to-work ploy to pull the nationwide class action out of a bad venue, the only other benefit I see from the litigation is to send a warning shot to any named plaintiff who might succeed John Beck Amazing Profits that Google will be coming after them too. Let’s see how that message is received.
The current roster of pending AdWords cases:
* John Beck Amazing Profits v. Google and now Google v. John Beck Amazing Profits
* Stratton Faxon v. Google (not initially a trademark case)