A small design firm is suing Microsoft over the name “Bing”

A small design firm is suing Microsoft over the name “Bing” after claims that the Bing search engine is infringing on their trademark. Bing LLC has been running since 2000 and has a pending trademark application over the Bing name.

According to the lawsuit, Bing LLC claims that Microsoft’s Bing “causes confusion with regard to the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant, confuses the public with regard to the origin of the plaintiff’s services and dilutes the value of the plaintiff’s trademark.”

With the Bing search engine being launched in 2009, there’s no doubt Microsoft would have done their research before deciding on the name. Trademark law does allow firms in different industries to use the same name, so I am not confident this case will have a huge amount of merit.

Here’s what Microsoft had to say, “We believe this suit to be without merit and we do not believe there is any confusion in the marketplace with regard to the complainant’s offerings and Microsoft’s Bing,”

Even if the suit doesn’t go ahead, it’s been a good link building exercise for the company, with several media sites now linking to their homepage!

Yahoo/Bing Deal Approved in Canada and Australia

microhooAustralian and Canadian authorities have given the all clear to the proposed Microsoft and Yahoo! search deal.

Here’s what the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had to say about the deal:

“Microsoft and Yahoo!’s share of online paid search advertising queries in Australia was limited, In combining search engine platforms, Microsoft and Yahoo! may have been able to achieve the necessary scale to provide effective and sustainable competition to Google, which had a very large share of online paid search advertising queries.”

Google holds a huge majority in Australia with over 87.79% of Australians using Google.com or Google.com.au. This dominance would have made it easier for Australian regulators to approve the partnership because Bing and Yahoo! hold such a minor market share individually.

While this marks a good milestone in the agreement, the biggest roadblock still lies ahead with European and American regulators. These are considered to be more competitive search markets, with anti-trust bodies likely to give Microsoft and Yahoo! a harder time.

In a joint statement, Yahoo/Microsoft said that they remain hopeful that an agreement will close in early 2010.