Google Hangs Onto Its Trademark in Court

  • Search engine brand used as verb survives trademark challenge
  • Man who registered 763 ‘google’ domain names loses court case

A sign featuring Google Inc.'s logo stands at the company's Asia-Pacific headquarters during its opening day in Singapore, on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016. Google officially opened its new hub in Singapore today.

Photographer: Ore Huiying/Bloomberg
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No matter how often you invoke a certain internet search engine’s name when doing online research, Alphabet Inc. still owns the brand.

That’s the upshot of a federal appeals court’s decision Tuesday rejecting the argument that Google has become so popular as a verb that it should lose its status as a protected trademark.