They were never going to win this.
American Blind & Wallpaper Factory Inc agreed to abandon the nearly 4-year-old case against Google. The truce also stipulated that Google wouldn’t change its long-standing policy that let advertisers place ads tied to a rival’s trademark.
No company has successfully sued Google in this area.
Any news with American Airlines? As far as I know they were trying the same thing but their claims were ridiculous, from my point of view.
That’s good. The argument goes both ways. Should I have to compete for a phrase I own? Should Google have to monitor this and loose profits in the process? I think Google should consider giving the trademark owner $.05 clicks for the top position, while allowing anyone to bid on a trademarked key phrase.