Forbes this morning has an interesting account of the ongoing trademark dispute between Google and Android Data Corp. of Palatine, Ill. The gist is that Google has decided to fight legal fire with legal fire, presumably to discourage other would-be litigants.
From that story:
In a 57-page response filed Oct. 23 with a U.S. district court in Illinois, Google requests punitive damages, including attorney's fees and "disgorgement of ill-gotten gains" from the suit's plaintiff, an entrepreneur named Erich Specht. It also asks the court to deny Specht the "relief" or payment he requests and to order the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to cancel Specht's Android trademark registration.
While it's often easy to identify a good guy and a bad guy in these showdowns -- at least from the layman's perspective -- this does not appear to be one of those cases.
On balance, though, it's difficult to conclude that Specht's action falls into the "frivolous" category, as Google alleges. And that makes me wonder why Google's legal team isn't writing a check instead of tossing 57-page haymakers.
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